Solid foundation for the future: Swiss Post continues to develop modern public service
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Solid foundation for the future: Swiss Post continues to develop modern public service
The transformation over the past four years is having an impact. Swiss Post is on a sound financial footing, provides a high-quality public service and is evolving continually to ensure it remains relevant for Switzerland. Growing numbers of customers are using digital solutions such as ePost, the electronic patient record and the Post-App, and benefiting, for example, from the ability to track parcel deliveries in real time. Demand has also increased in the mobility sector: in 2024, PostBus carried more passengers than ever before. And Swiss Post is continuing to invest in the modernization of its branch network. In 2024, Swiss Post generated Group profit of 324 million francs, which is 70 million more than in 2023. Looking ahead, Swiss Post anticipates that various factors will have an impact on its future results. The market and interest rate environment for Swiss Post remains extremely challenging.
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“Swiss Post is financially balanced”
With the “Swiss Post of tomorrow” strategy between 2021 and 2024, Swiss Post established a foundation that it is continuing to build on. CEO Roberto Cirillo emphasizes:"Swiss Post is financially balanced and can rely on a healthy balance sheet. In the past few years, we’ve created a solid and future-proof Swiss Post. Every day, Swiss Post staff deliver the highest quality in a very competitive environment. It’s for good reason that, in 2024, Swiss Post was named a world-leading postal service by the Universal Postal Union for the eighth time in a row. At the same time, Swiss Post provides the universal service without needing to use taxpayers’ money. To ensure that this remains the case, postal legislation will need to be adapted to the real requirements of the general public and companies. It is now up to politicians to give Swiss Post sufficient freedom for it to remain successful.” In entrepreneurial terms, Swiss Post has set the course to consistently develop its products and services – both physical and digital – in line with demand. It is also important for Swiss Post to remain attractive to its employees and to act as a role model as one of Switzerland’s biggest employers.
The strategy period completed in 2024 is also having a financial impact. Four years of consistent change in line with customer needs have enabled Swiss Post to stabilize its result. At 401 million francs, the operating profit (EBIT) achieved in 2024 is up 78 million francs on the previous year’s figure. At 324 million francs, Group profit is 70 million higher than in 2023. Alex Glanzmann, Head of Finance and interim Group CEO from April 2025, remains cautious: “The price adjustments implemented at the beginning of 2024 have offset the structural decline in letter volumes for the time being. And with efficiency programmes over the past four years, we have managed to reduce our costs. However, Swiss Post’s market environment remains extremely challenging. For example, the interest rate environment is still very volatile, presenting a challenge in particular for PostFinance’s result. And the structural decline in volumes will continue. We have to anticipate various external and internal factors that will have an impact on our results. This means it’s important for us to keep an eye on our long-term success.”
Swiss Post makes everyday life easier
Swiss Post is continuing to adapt to a rapidly changing environment and dynamic customer needs. “To achieve this, we are continuously improving our range and developing new services, making everyday life easier for people in Switzerland and offering real added value. Whether it’s receiving parcels, in the branches, in communication, in mobility or in the financial sector,” adds Glanzmann. Swiss Post will expand its services where new needs emerge, and optimize them where there are declines in demand. “We will continue to pursue our strategy by improving our efficiency even further and adjusting our prices where necessary. As part of these efforts, it will also be important to bring the Swiss public along with us on this journey and show them how we can meet their real needs.”
Swiss Post’s business areas in detail:
Swiss Post’s logistics offer customers flexibility and high quality
Operating profit at Logistics Services improved by over 100 million francs, making a strong contribution to the stable Group result. The efficiency measures and introduction of leaner processes over the past few years have had an impact. And the price adjustments have counteracted the negative impact of falling letter volumes. Thanks to more efficient processes, Swiss Post has also accommodated customers’ needs. The gradual introduction of a new planning tool for parcel delivery rounds from 2023 allows Swiss Post to offer recipients more precise consignment notifications. Since 2024, recipients can track parcels in real time for the last 15 minutes on Swiss Post parcel-only rounds. Over the next few years, Swiss Post plans to also make real-time information possible on mixed letter and parcel rounds. In addition, it is continuously optimizing its logistics network to enable it to respond to varying volumes and formats. The letter and parcel volumes for 2024 show that flexibility is everything. Whereas, at 1.56 billion, Swiss Post recorded a decline of 5.5 percent in addressed letters compared to 2023, online retail means that more and more larger letter consignments also contain goods. For parcels, volumes totalled some 180 million – a slight fall of 2.9 percent compared to the previous year. Swiss Post continues to expect rising parcel volumes in the medium and long term.
Growing numbers of customers using digital solutions
Established in 2021, the Digital Services unit (Communication Services until 2024) has gained in importance on the market, increasing its revenue by over 30 percent in 2024. This is an important step towards profitability. However, the development of services ordered by the public sector depends on a range of different regulatory frameworks. With its investments in digital letters, e-voting and the electronic patient record (EPR), Swiss Post is contributing significantly to forward-looking solutions that are relevant to society and generate economic benefits. In addition to traditional letters, Swiss Post’s ePost gives customers the choice between physical and digital services – and demand is growing. More than 10,000 companies, organizations and public authorities are connected to the ePost platform, 70 percent more than at the beginning of 2024. And over 200,000 private customers use the ePost App, representing an increase of 60 percent over the previous year. In electronic voting, Swiss Post is the only provider to successfully operate an e-voting system, which is in use in four cantons and a growing number of municipalities. Swiss Post is also playing a key role with the electronic patient record (EPR). For example, EPR openings at Post Sanela Health AG have tripled, from around 12,800 EPRs at the end of 2023 to around 38,300 at the end of 2024.
Swiss Post combines physical and digital everyday life with video consultations
With 270,000 daily customer transactions in self-operated branches, the branch network remains relevant to a section of the general public. However, the trend towards digital services is growing, as illustrated by the further decline of 10.7 percent in over-the-counter payment transactions, year-on-year. Swiss Post has, in turn, expanded its range of services, including video consultations for customers in a number of branches, which the company is using to look into how it can shorten waiting times at its branches. Swiss Post remains committed to a dense network, with around 2,000 staffed locations, and is investing around 100 million francs in modernizing its services. One thing is clear: the range of customer requirements is broad – from purely physical to 100 percent digital. The expansion of branches into service centers with partners from insurance companies, health insurers, banks and public authorities is having a positive impact on PostalNetwork’s result. In 2024, Swiss Post entered into three additional partnerships with Banque du Léman, Western Union and Bernerland Bank, guaranteeing customers additional access to services. In 2024, it also introduced PostMobile, a new mobile phone service that has met with strong demand among customers.
Turnaround in interest rate environment requires action
In 2024, PostFinance generated operating profit of 203 million francs, down 61 million francs year-on-year. The result shows that the volatile interest rate environment is increasing the pressure on PostFinance’s margins, requiring the bank to take action. Given its competitive disadvantage as a result of not being allowed to issue mortgages and loans independently, the interest differential business is PostFinance’s most important source of income. While PostFinance has been able to allow its customers to benefit from the positive interest rate environment since 2023, the Swiss National Bank’s (SNB) expansionary monetary policy in response to falling inflation has increasingly limited the scope for attractive customer interest rates. For this reason, PostFinance was forced to again lower interest rates slightly on savings and retirement savings accounts. Falling interest rates are making the prospect of any near-term recovery in margins more difficult. PostFinance needs to increase its activity in non-interest-sensitive business – for example in investment, trading, card business and with its expertise in payment transactions – very much in line with the new strategy, where PostFinance is focusing more consistently than ever on the needs of its customers.
PostBus transports more passengers than ever before
With 183.1 million passengers, 2024 was another record year for PostBus. The number of passengers increased, particularly for leisure services. Overall, the Mobility Services unit (PostBus and Post Company Cars) increased its operating profit by 9 million francs, mainly due to increased compensatory payments for PostBus. At the end of 2024, Swiss Post launched an efficiency programme for Mobility Services to reduce administrative costs. By doing so, it is helping to relieve the burden on the Confederation, cantons and municipalities, which co-finance regional passenger transport and local PostBus services. In 2024, Swiss Post also continued to advance the electrification of its fleet, both in delivery and for Postbuses. Fleet manager Post Company Cars started operation of its thousandth delivery van with an electric drive system in 2024, which means that, with over 7,200 electric vehicles, Swiss Post now has the biggest electric fleet in Switzerland. In addition to licensed passenger transport, Swiss Post wants to offer more sustainable mobility solutions for business customers, for example in fleet management or for on-demand solutions.
1 The operating profit corresponds to the result before net non-operating financial income and taxes (EBIT). 2 FTE = full-time equivalent. Average headcount expressed in terms of full-time equivalents, excluding trainees. 3 Number of employees, excluding trainees. 4 Figures have been adjusted (see Notes to the 2021 Group annual financial statements, Note 2.2, Accounting changes) due to the classification of Swiss Post Solutions as a discontinued operation. 5 The figures up to and including 2021 contain the headcount of the Swiss Post Solutions business unit, which has been disposed of. 6 Normalized figures. See the section “One-off item 2021” on page 46 of the Financial Report 2022. 7 The figure has been adjusted (see Notes to the 2022 Group annual financial statements, Note 2.2, Accounting changes). 8 The base year for the calculation is 2021.
PostFinance Ltd key figures
Key figures
Unit
2023
2024
Number of customers¹
in thousands
2 425
2 403
Customer assets
CHF million
104 071
106 642
Of which customer assets in the non interest-sensitive business (off balance sheet)
CHF million
17 698
20 265
Development of customer assets
CHF million
–546
2 571
Mortgages²
CHF million
6 033
6 175
Headcount
FTE³
3 340
3 486
1 The measurement logic of the key figure was revised with regard to the definition of active customers and the previous year’s figure adjusted accordingly. 2 In cooperation with partner banks, and, since the end of 2023, additionally as PostFinance mortgage brokerage business via a brokerage platform. The previous year’s figure has been adjusted accordingly. 3 FTEs = full-time equivalents. Average headcount expressed in terms of full-time equivalents.
Selected key figures per segment 2024
Key figures
Operating income (CHF million)
Operating profit¹ (CHF million)
Logistics Services
4 358
439
Communication Services²
206
–67
PostalNetwork
541
–113
Mobility Services
1 160
30
PostFinance
1 897
203
Selected key figures per segment 2023
Key figures
Operating income (CHF million)
Operating profit¹ (CHF million)
Logistics Services
4 127
335
Communication Services²
157
–72
PostalNetwork
547
–93
Mobility Services
1 069
21
PostFinance
1 961
264
1 The operating profit corresponds to the result before net non-operating financial income and taxes (EBIT). 2 The Communication Services unit was renamed Digital Services as of 1 January 2025.
Swiss PostReading Time 12 minutes