Luzerner Kantonalbank
Luzerner Kantonalbank, known as LUKB, is the cantonal bank of Lucerne in central Switzerland and was founded in 1850. LUKB serves private clients, companies and wealthy families with accounts, cards, mortgages, retirement savings, investment advice and asset management. More than 60 percent of private individuals and almost half of the companies in the canton of Lucerne have a banking relationship with LUKB.
Luzerner Kantonalbank is a stock corporation listed on SIX Swiss Exchange, and the canton of Lucerne owns 61.5 percent of its shares and backs the bank with a state guarantee. Around 1,400 people work at 22 branches in the canton and at an office in Zurich for private banking and structured products. Since March 2024, LUKB clients can also buy and hold cryptocurrencies in the e-banking where they manage their securities.
Banking for private clients, companies and private banking clients
For private clients, the bank runs accounts, debit and credit cards, mobile payment and savings plans, and it offers fixed-rate mortgages, SARON mortgages and construction loans for homeowners. Retirement planning, tax advice and estate planning sit next to three ways of investing: an asset management mandate, investment advice, or self-directed investing in funds, securities and cryptocurrencies. The subsidiary LUKB Expert Fondsleitung AG runs the LUKB Expert funds and managed CHF 6.5 billion at the end of 2025.
Corporate clients get payments and cash management, working capital and investment loans, trade finance for import and export, company pension advice and support with business succession. The private banking unit advises wealthy individuals, entrepreneurs, executives and family offices in Lucerne, Sursee and Zurich. The structured products team works from Zurich, and LUKB has sales offices for these products in Lausanne and Lugano.
Lending, client assets and the strategy to 2030
Luzerner Kantonalbank reported a group profit of CHF 295.5 million for 2025, the highest in the history of the bank. Client loans rose by 6.9 percent to CHF 46.4 billion, of which CHF 40.9 billion were mortgages, and client assets under management reached CHF 42.6 billion. The cost-income ratio stood at 46.1 percent, and the bank employed 1,206 full-time equivalents at the end of the year.
Under its LUKB30 strategy for 2026 to 2030, the bank wants to rank among the five leading universal banks in Switzerland by 2030. CEO Daniel Salzmann names investments in data-driven and AI-supported banking as one lever for that goal, and the bank targets a group profit of about CHF 340 million for 2030.
Crypto trading and custody inside the bank
In early March 2024, Luzerner Kantonalbank opened crypto trading and custody to its clients, starting with bitcoin, ether and USD Coin. The offer runs inside the core banking system and in the mobile and desktop e-banking, so coins sit in the same securities account as shares and funds. LUKB says it was the first traditional bank to build its own custody solution for digital assets.
The technology came from the Swiss digital asset bank Sygnum, the custody software firm Fireblocks and the trading software maker Wyden, which published the joint announcement in August 2023. The bank manages the private keys itself with multi-party computation, which splits each key into fragments that are stored separately. Client coins stay off the balance sheet of the bank, LUKB does not lend them out, and the custody infrastructure is certified under ISAE 3000 and ISAE 3402 Type 2.
Transfers, crypto Lombard loans and institutional clients
From 1 October 2024, clients could move bitcoin and ether from other wallets into their LUKB securities account and send them out again. CFO Marcel Hurschler called LUKB the first traditional bank in Switzerland to offer this service to its clients. By the end of 2024, transfers worked for every coin in the offer, and the bank had added crypto services for institutional clients.
On 25 September 2025, Luzerner Kantonalbank launched a Lombard loan secured by bitcoin and ether, which the bank describes as a first among Swiss universal banks. Clients who hold larger amounts of bitcoin or ether can borrow against them without selling their coins. Because crypto prices move sharply, LUKB applies deliberately conservative loan-to-value ratios to this collateral.
Upcoming fintech and finance events in Switzerland
Buying bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in e-banking
LUKB clients with a securities account can buy nine cryptocurrencies in e-banking: bitcoin, ether, XRP, Solana, Chainlink, Polygon, Aave, USD Coin and Tether. The minimum purchase is CHF 50, and a crypto investment plan buys a fixed amount at regular intervals through a standing order. The offer is open to all clients of the bank except US persons.
Crypto fees and custody charges
A crypto trade at LUKB costs 1.80 percent of the order value up to CHF 10,000, and the rate falls in steps to 1.00 percent for orders above CHF 100,000. Custody costs 0.60 percent a year plus VAT, and a transfer out of the bank costs CHF 80 per coin, while incoming transfers of at least CHF 5,000 are free in most cases.
Mortgages and construction loans
Mortgages are the largest business of Luzerner Kantonalbank, with CHF 40.9 billion outstanding at the end of 2025. Homeowners can choose between a fixed-rate mortgage, a SARON mortgage and a construction loan, and the bank publishes its current mortgage rates and calculators online.
Private banking in Lucerne, Sursee and Zurich
The private banking team of LUKB serves wealthy private clients, entrepreneurs and executives, as well as ultra-high-net-worth individuals and family offices. Each client keeps the same adviser over many years and can choose an asset management mandate or advice for their own investment decisions. The Swiss business magazine BILANZ again rated the private banking of Luzerner Kantonalbank as excellent in its private banking rating.
Does Luzerner Kantonalbank have a state guarantee?
Yes, Luzerner Kantonalbank has a state guarantee from the canton of Lucerne, which holds 61.5 percent of the shares, while the other 38.5 percent trade freely on SIX Swiss Exchange. Standard & Poor's rates the bank AA+ for the long term and A-1+ for the short term.
Luzerner Kantonalbank and Finance Loop
Finance Loop covers bank custody of cryptocurrencies in the Investment & Digital Assets track, and Luzerner Kantonalbank belongs there because it holds the coins of its clients in its own custody. Luzerner Kantonalbank was a partner of CV Summit 2026 in Zurich, the conference that CV Labs organized at Kongresshaus Zurich on 29 and 30 September 2026.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the institutional use of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, digital payments, cloud and blockchain solutions. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.