Automating deposit protection: How CIB Flow is digitizing the crisis process for Swiss banks

Deposit protection what is covered by the scope?

First of all, a conceptual distinction that is often overlooked in practice: In regulatory terms, deposit protection refers to account balances, i.e. savings accounts, salaries and fixed-term deposits. Deposits such as shares, bonds or fund units are customer property and are separated from the assets in the event of bankruptcy. They therefore do not fall within the scope of this process.

Below the complete process: Data provision => Contacting => Instruction & validation => Payment & completion:

The focus is on secured deposits of up to CHF 100,000 per depositor and bank. In the case of joint accounts or complex structures (foundations, pension assets), correct allocation quickly becomes a challenge.

The ONLU Digital Agent takes over the complex contacting process for the bank

Legal framework: The three-tier protection system

Swiss depositor protection is based on a three-tier system:

1. 1. Immediate payout of privileged deposits, provided the bank has liquidity available.
   2. Deposit protection via esisuisse: rapid advance payment if bank liquidity is insufficient.
   3. 2nd class bankruptcy privilege up to CHF 100,000 in regular bankruptcy proceedings.

The partial revision of the Banking Act (AS 2022 732) has shortened the deadline for the provision of funds by esisuisse from 20 to 7 working days. The FINMA representative or bankruptcy liquidator must then contact the depositors immediately, obtain payment instructions and pay them out within a further 7 working days at the latest.

Why preparation is mandatory

The Banking Ordinance explicitly obliges institutions to take preparatory measures: IT systems, personnel and standardized processes must be set up in such a way that everything runs smoothly in the event of a crisis. At the heart of the preparations is a master file or a single customer view, the ability to display all customer relationships in a consolidated form, including joint accounts, security interests and clearing positions.

Ghis is exactly where our ONLU Digital Agent with CIB Flow-Use-Case comes in: We automate not only the actual payout process, but also the entire lifecycle from data extraction and communication through to the auditable evidence pack.

Market situation: No standard product in sight

There is simply no ready-made “Deposit Insurance Processor” as a standard product for the Swiss market. What does exist are individual modules:

• • OCR/IDP (Intelligent Document Processing): ABBYY, Tungsten/Kofax, UiPath, Azure Document Intelligence

• • BPM/Case Management: Camunda, Flowable, Appian, Pega, IBM

• • Avaloq-related solutions: Relutions AG (have Deposit Guarantee Scheme as a field of experience)

• • RegTech: IRIS (DIS platform, primarily reporting focus)

The potential for differentiation is considerable: a BPMN blueprint that combines Avaloq extraction, IDP/OCR, payment integration and omnichannel messaging in an end-to-end workflow would be a clear product approach – and that is exactly what we offer.

The ONLU CIB Flow process in detail

The end-to-end process maps the entire process chain, from the crisis report to the final report. The following description is based on the BPMN diagram that we use as a blueprint for implementation projects.

Phase 1: Trigger and data provision

The process starts with the FINMA order (protective measure or bankruptcy order). CIB Flow automatically triggers the master file extract from the core banking system – in most Swiss banks Avaloq/ Finnova/ Finstar/ Temenos. All relevant positions are consolidated for each depositor:

• • Account balances (savings, salary, fixed-term deposit accounts)

• • Joint accounts (pro rata allocation)

• • Security interests and offsetting items

• • Privileged deposits pursuant to BankA Art. 37a

The result is the Single Customer View with the exact payout amount per depositor, capped at CHF 100,000.

Phase 2: Omnichannel contacting

ONLU CIB Flow checks the available contact data and selects the optimum channel:

• • Digital path: E-mail and SMS with secure link for online instruction entry including legally secure digital signature:
    👉 Test it 👉 here

• • Postal path: Letter with QR code that leads to the same online form,
    or physical return of the document, which is then fully digitized by OCR and processed further for instruction.

This dual approach maximizes accessibility and ensures that customers without a registered e-mail address or e-banking are also informed promptly. ONLU CIB Flow automatically tracks which depositors have responded and escalates if there is no response.

Phase 3: Instruction and validation

Depositors enter their target IBAN via the online form (or via reply form). ONLU CIB Flow takes over the automatic validation:

• • IBAN check digit and format validation

• • Sanctions screening (compliance check)

• • Duplicate check (multiple instructions from the same inserter)

If the IBAN is invalid, a query is automatically sent to the depositor – the process jumps back to the instruction phase until a valid IBAN is available.

Phase 4: Payment and reconciliation

Validated instructions are combined into a collective payment run and executed via SIC (Swiss Interbank Clearing) or euroSIC. This is followed by automatic reconciliation: target/actual comparison, identification of incorrect payments and returns.

Phase 5: Evidence pack and reporting

In the final step, ONLU CIB Flow generates an audit-proof evidence pack: all process logs, payment documents, timestamps and proof of communication in a structured dossier. This serves as the basis for final reporting to FINMA and esisuisse.

Main risks and how we counter them

Conclusion: preparation is not an option but a must

The stricter deadlines of the revised Banking Act and the explicit obligation to take preparatory action make one thing clear: anyone who has not automated the end-to-end deposit protection process risks not only missing deadlines in the event of a crisis, but also reputational damage and regulatory consequences.

With ONLU CIB Flow as a BPMN-based workflow engine, deeply integrated with Avaloq and Finnova and the relevant payment systems, ONLU offers an approach that goes beyond individual modules: an end-to-end, auditable process from the crisis report to the Evidence Pack.

Interested?

We would be happy to show you in a demo what the process in CIB Flow looks like or start directly with an analysis phase for your bank