Formulated by UNI Apro Post and Logistics Secto
1. Royal Mail adds heft in Canadian freight with Rosenau purchase. October 08, 2021.
2. DPDHL: We have already exceeded previous year’s full_year result. October 07, 2021.
3. The Pathways Coalition welcomes PostNord. October 06, 2021.
4. USPS moves forward with extended delivery times despite. October 05, 2021.
5. CWU women welcome agreement on issue of new Royal Mail personal attack alarms. October 05, 2021.
1.Royal Mail adds heft in Canadian freight with Rosenau purchase: October 08, 2021
(Reuters) - Royal Mail's (RMG.L) GLS parcel service is to buy Rosenau Transport for C$360 million ($287 million), as the British postal company strengthens its freight carrier services in Canada.
The purchase, coming three years after GLS entered Canada by acquiring parcel delivery firm Dicom, will help the ground-based parcel network serve the vast majority of Canadians, Royal Mail said. It also comes as the pandemic spurs more online shopping, which relies on parcel and freight companies. Earlier this year, Royal Mail's parcel volumes reached their highest in its more than 500-year history. "Rosenau Transport's model is similar to our existing Canadian business and provides an excellent fit," GLS Chief Executive Martin Seidenberg said in a statement on Friday. Canada's combined parcel and freight market is worth about C$25 billion, and is growing at about 5% every year, Royal Mail said, citing internal estimates.
Rosenau had revenue of C$175 million and core earnings of C$41.6 million in the year ended August, with a mid-teens percentage operating profit margin similar to that reported by Dicom, Royal Mail said. "Rosenau's operating margins are well above industry averages ... which supports what is a premium acquisition multiple," Peel Hunt analyst Alexander Paterson said. "This seems a sensible acquisition." The deal, expected to close by December, should add to GLS's earnings and cash flow for the year ending March 2022, Royal Mail said. The purchase will be funded by existing cash and loans. It comes two weeks after Royal Mail gave an upbeat profit forecast as it benefits from improving letter volumes and higher UK parcel revenues due to the online shopping boom. Shares in Royal Mail, which have gained 22% so far this year, were largely unchanged at 0820 GMT, having earlier risen 1%. ($1 = 1.2553 Canadian dollars)
Source : https://www.reuters.com/business
2.DPDHL: We have already exceeded previous year’s full-year result October 07, 2021 Deutsche Post DHL Group has today released preliminary results for the third quarter of 2021. The Group’s EBIT reached around EUR 1.765 billion in the third quarter 2021 (Q3 2020: EUR 1.377 billion), bringing the EBIT of the first nine months of 2021 to around EUR 5.760 billion.
This includes a one-off effect of EUR -179 million for the second Covid-19 bonus (Q3 2020: EUR -163 million), which will be paid in the fourth quarter. Against the backdrop of the excellent business development, the Group will revise upward its outlook for EBIT and free cash flow for FY 2021. In addition, the mid-term guidance for FY 2023 will be increased on November 4, 2021.
“In the first nine months of the current year, we have already exceeded previous year’s full-year result. Global trade accelerated significantly compared to the previous year. At the same time, shipment volumes in e-commerce remained high. Therefore we are optimistic for the oncoming peak season“, said Frank Appel, CEO of Deutsche Post DHL Group. “We are now intensively preparing ourselves for potential record-breaking shipment volumes in the coming weeks and have deliberately built up capacity in the third quarter, in order to be able to offer our customers continued high quality service.”
DHL divisions achieved a significant jump in earnings
The positive development of the Group’s businesses seen in the first half of the year has continued well through the third quarter 2021. All DHL divisions significantly exceeded the previous year’s results. Volume trends in the past quarter confirm base assumptions with continued well supported B2B recovery and B2C volumes staying at high previous year levels across all major networks. At the same time the tight capacity situation both in Ocean and Air Freight markets continued. Express: EBIT in the Express division reached around EUR 970 million in the third quarter 2021 compared to EUR 753 million in the previous year’s quarter.
Global Forwarding, Freight: EBIT in Global Forwarding, Freight stood at around EUR 370 million in the third quarter 2021, also clearly ahead of previous year’s result of EUR 155 million.
Supply Chain: EBIT at Supply Chain came in at around EUR 140 million in the third quarter 2021, significantly above last year’s third quarter result which stood at EUR 112 million. eCommerce Solutions: eCommerce Solutions recorded EBIT of around EUR 90 million in the third quarter 2021, significantly above last year’s third quarter result which stood at EUR 76 million. Post & Parcel Germany: EBIT in Post & Parcel Germany in the third quarter 2021 was around EUR 300 million (Q3 2020: EUR 320 million). The continued positive business development is underpinned by a continued equally strong development of cash flow; free cash flow in the third quarter 2021 amounted to more than EUR 1.0 billion (Q3 2020: EUR 1.264 billion). For the first nine months of 2021 free cash flow stands at more than EUR 3.1 billion and significantly exceeds the previous year result (9M 2020: EUR 1.460 billion). Earnings and FCF outlook will be revised upwards based on dynamic business performance In light of the continued positive earnings momentum also in the third quarter 2021, management will raise guidance for FY 2021 Group EBIT and FCF, driven by the strong development in the DHL divisions. Also, the mid-term guidance for FY 2023 will be subject to upward revision. The comprehensive disclosure for third quarter 2021 will be published as planned on November 4, 2021.
Source : https://postandparcel.info/143547/news/e-commerce
3.The Pathways Coalition welcomes PostNord October 06, 2021
PostNord has become the first logistics operator to be elected to join The Pathways Coalition, a partnership devoted to accelerating the transition to sustainable transport solutions. The ultimate aim is to establish conditions for the historically rapid transition that is required to ensure a fossil-free commercial transport system no later than 2050.
Transport is the second-largest source of global carbon emissions. This means that in order to achieve the climate targets set out in the Paris Agreement, heavy transport operations have to become completely fossil-free. For this to be possible, dramatic changes will have to be made in all sectors in the form of new technology, new infrastructure and entirely new business models, combined with close cooperation within and between multiple industries. Against this background, The Pathways Coalition was founded by partiesrepresenting all the different parts of the value chain. Welcoming PostNord as a member supplements the work through the addition of a key perspective: that of the logistics operator. The other members of the coalition are E.ON, H&M Group, Scania, Siemens and Ericsson. As the first logistics operator to join the coalition, PostNord is in a position to contribute important insights from the world of transport. “Bringing PostNord on board means that we can now pick up the pace of the transformation. We need to be active in all areas of the value chain to be able to accelerate the transition towards a sustainable transport system. We are therefore striving to involve all parts of the value chain, from transport purchasers to logistics operators. As the largest logistics operator in the Nordic region, PostNord has a major influence on the sector as a whole and is therefore a natural choice to join the coalition. It means a great deal to bring in a logistics operator that understands all the operational challenges involved in switching to fossil-free transport solutions,” explains Anders Bylund, Senior Advisor at Siemens Nordic and Chairman of the coalition steering group. PostNord’s sustainability agenda is firmly founded on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In 2020, the Group achieved its climate target of reducing its carbon footprint by 40 percent in relation to 2009 levels. The next objective is for all the Group’s transport solutions in the Nordic region to become fossil-free by 2030. Membership of The Pathways Coalition constitutes an important step towards this target, because through the working relationship, PostNord is contributing to the transition of the entire logistics industry. “I’m delighted that PostNord has become the first logistics operator to be approved as a member of The Pathways Coalition. We have a distinct sustainability agenda, and cooperation between different players are crucial to our success. I’m convinced that thanks to our extensive experience, we can contribute key insights to the work of the coalition and thus help to power the transition to a sustainable transport system,” says Annemarie Gardshol, President and Group CEO of PostNord.
Source : https://www.ipc.be/news-portal/operations-logistics/2021/10/08/11/54
4.USPS moves forward with extended delivery times despite October 05, 2021
USPS is moving fast to overhaul its operations for financial sustainability and more predictable delivery times. The agency already implemented new service standards on Oct. 1 that will increase transit time standards by one to two days for some first_class mail and periodicals. Now, changes are imminent for its lightweight package service that saw a surge in demand amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
A reduced reliance on air transport, which the Postal Regulatory Commission said will be implemented prior to peak season, will affect parcel deliveries differently depending on their final destinations. An analysis by Partners for Economic Solutions found the new standards would disproportionately downgrade service standards along the West Coast, according to testimony from the firm on behalf of the American Postal Workers Union. East Coast deliveries would be affected to a lesser extent, while the Midwest would be the primary recipient of service upgrades. About 5% of volume overall will see faster service standards. Partners for Economic Solutions flagged several areas that will be subject to a longer delivery standard, including at least 61% of ZIP Codes along the West Coast. Most of Nevada and Idaho would also see delivery times impacted, as well as 81% of ZIP Codes in southern Texas and southern Oregon. The vast majority of FCPS volume fits into the commercial, or bulk shippers, category, with pharmaceutical companies and online marketplaces being the primary customer segments, the Postal Regulatory Commission said. The service for lightweight packages saw a large increase in volume in 2020 due to the pandemic-driven online shopping boom. The upcoming changes aren't expected to have an effect on FCPS volume, said Thomas Foti, vice president of product solutions for USPS, in testimony. Respondents to a USPS survey most frequently cited price as their main reason for using FCPS, and most respondents said they would maintain or increase volumes with the proposed changes, Foti said. The survey sampled 458 FCPS Commercial shippers. And although the operational changes will increase the strain on the carrier's ground transportation network, Stephen Hagenstein, director of logistics modeling and analytics, said in testimony that the agency uses only 42% of its transportation capacity currently.
Still, the Postal Regulatory Commission said it is concerned the carrier's timeframe to implement the changes "may be too ambitious given that implementing processing and transportation changes at this time of the year would be difficult under typical circumstances and may face additional challenges due to the continuation of the COVID_19 emergency and the industry-wide stress."
Source : https://www.supplychaindive.com/news
5.CWU women welcome agreement on issue of new Royal Mail personal attack alarms October 05, 2021
“Good news, now let’s get them out there,” is the reaction of CWU NEC women’s lead Angela Whitter to the agreement by Royal Mail to provide personal attack alarms to postal delivery workers.
Angela, who represents women members from the postal constituency of the union on the national executive, told CWU News today: “I welcome this, which is needed not just by our women members, but by all our outdoor collection and delivery members too, who sometimes suffer emergency, dangerous or threatening situations while on duty.” CWU health, safety & environment national officer Dave Joyce who secured the agreement, says that this commitment by the company is “a landmark, as they’ve never provided this before. “There have been around 450 reported attacks of various nature on our postal members in the last three years and around 60 van thefts and robberies in the last two years,” explains Dave, adding that “there have also been four recent, serious attacks.”
Issuing of personal alarms has been actively pursued by the CWU health, safety & environment department with Simon Thompson, Royal Mail Group CEO, and in subsequent meetings with the directors and heads of RMG Security, RMG Assets, RMG IT, RMG Compliance and Sustainability and RMG Safety Programmes.
“The most recent meeting took place just this week, during which confirmation of the company’s decision on agreeing to the issuing of personal alarms was confirmed,” says Dave. Angela Whitter said that, while welcoming the agreement to provide workers with personal alarms, “it’s also equally important that the company fully supports postwomen and postmen who suffer incidents of abuse when they’re out on delivery.” As secretary of the union’s Croydon & Sutton Amal Branch, Angela has had a recent case of a postwoman who was sworn at and threatened by a member of the public, who allegedly hit her Royal Mail vehicle with his fists. “In this instance, I felt that the company did not give our member the support that she deserved – and it’s these kinds of management attitudes that need to change, as well as providing necessary kit. “All the same, well done to Dave Joyce for getting this agreement and commitment – now we need to make sure the personal alarms arrive soon and let’s get them out there.” Dave concluded: “Royal Mail will shortly make the personal attack alarms available on their website for members to pre-order and the first stocks will be available towards the end of November when delivery is expected from the manufacturers.”
Source : https://www.cwu.org/news
UNI Apro Post & Logistics
1 POSTAL NEWS No 80-2021
Formulated by UNI Apro Post and Logistics Sector
1. Pay Equity: Finally some dates and payments for retroactive. October 08, 2021.
2. Bpost group appoints new executives. October 08, 2021.
3. Australia Post trials running post office processes on a smartphone. October 07, 2021.
4. Alibaba logistics unit Cainiao expands with Air China Cargo investment. October 05, 2021.
5. Swiss Post acquires SwissSign Group Ltd. October 04, 2021.
1.Pay Equity: Finally some dates and payments for retroactive October 08, 2021
In our bulletin released on April 1, 2021, we reported that the committee tasked with the implementation of Arbitrator Flynn’s decision was frustrated with the slow progress of this file.
After 3 years, we have finally obtained timelines spread out over the following three phases:
Phase 1 Members in the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan will be the first to receive retroactive payment for work-related injuries that occurred between 2016 and 2019. These are the provinces for which the provincial workers’ compensation board will not be issuing adjustments as a result of Arbitrator Flynn’s decision, as it is not part of their obligations under their policy. However, in the interest of fairness, Canada Post has made a commitment to make this adjustment directly. Since most workers’ compensation boards’ payments are not taxable, Canada Post will increase the amounts by 36% (the average of the three provinces’ tax rates). Each employee will receive a letter of explanation from Canada Post regarding the payment to be received.
Payments will be made within the next two (2) weeks.
Phase 2 In Newfoundland, Ontario, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island and Manitoba, the workers’ compensation board will receive, by October 21, information from Canada Post about the wage adjustments that RSMCs have received in relation to the pay equity decision. It will then be up to each of the boards to process the information and issue payments to the RSMCs. Each employee will receive a letter of explanation from his or her board regarding the payment to be received. The boards will receive the information by October 21, 2021.
Phase 3 Workers’ compensation board in the provinces of Quebec and Alberta will receive, by November 4, information from Canada Post regarding the wage adjustments that RSMCs have received in relation to the pay equity decision. It will then be up to each board to process the information and issue payments to the RSMCs concerned. An explanatory letter from your commission will be sent to you explaining your payment. The boards will receive the information by November 4, 2021.
Source : https://www.cupw.ca/en
2.Bpost group appoints new executives October 08, 2021
Bpost has appointed Ross Hurwitz as the new chief legal officer. Hurwitz is currently executive vice president, general counsel, and head of human resources for Radial, managing all legal, compliance, risk management and governance matters at Radial and leading the human resources function at Radial. In addition, he counsels the executive team on Radial’s go-to-market strategy, oversees Radial’s intellectual property portfolio, and advises on commercial transactions with Radial’s clients. Previously, Hurwitz was an associate at the law firm Dechert LLP and accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Hurwitz holds a JD degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a BS degree in accounting and finance from Lehigh University. Bpost subsidiary company Radial US will be led with immediate effect by Laura Ritchey, current COO and now reporting to the Group CEO, and Gary Crowe, CFO. Ilias Simpson, who heads bpost group’s parcels and logistics activities in North America, will leave bpost group on December 31, 2021. Simpson, will stay until the end of the year at Radial to organize the hand-over and the end-of-year peak with Ritchey and Crowe. Simpson was senior vice president of fulfillment services for Radial until December 2020 before moving to the North American.
activities in 2020. He was also member of the bpost group executive committee and CEO of Radial, a US subsidiary of bpost group. Dirk Tirez, CEO of bpost group said, “As we evolve more and move toward an international group, one needs to recognize that bpost group operates different business lines each at different stages with differentiated leadership needs (transform, scale, build). Therefore, we are designing an organization that follows this strategy which also happens in a context of succession planning at group executive committee level. The function of group legal, compliance and company secretary will be taken over by Ross Hurwitz. Ross has deep legal experience, great business maturity and has been closely involved in Group-wide legal discussions in the last years. I would also like to thank Ilias for his management of North American activities of bpost group. We wish him every success in his future endeavors.”
Source : https://www.parcelandpostaltechnologyinternational.com/news/staff-personnel
3.Australia Post trials running post office processes on a smartphone October 07, 2021
Breaks cover with major retail transformation.
Australia Post has broken cover with a ruggedised smartphone that could replace up to eight devices used by staff to perform work at 4300 owned and licensed post offices.
The smartphone, loaded with off-the-shelf and custom apps, has been under extended trial at Australia Post’s Chadstone store in Melbourne. Australia Post had intended to showcase the technology at a series of roadshows for post office managers and licensees this year, but these were postponed until at least March 2022 due to the pandemic.
The smartphones, the results of the trial and Australia Post’s broader ambition to deploy nationwide, were revealed at the largely US-centric VMWorld 2021 technology conference early on Wednesday morning AEDT. One of the reasons Australia Post is keen to have staff use a single multi-functional smartphone, instead of a number of shared peripherals plugged into its “venerable” 32- year-old point-of-sale (POS) system, is health and safety related. “We have a large number of devices in our stores that are largely shared between all staff in that store, and that creates some challenges around sanitising those devices between usage and at the end of day,” Australia Post technology business partner Ben Llewellyn said. “So what we’re looking at doing is to create a situation where every staff member has their own device from the start to the end of their shift, and isn’t sharing those devices and potentially sharing the virus between themselves.” However, the original impetus for the project was to find a more effective way to capture sender and recipient information from “dark parcels” - those with handwritten labels - which currently needs to be manually re-typed at the point of sale for parcel lodgement. “Probably about half of [the parcels we receive] still have handwritten address labels, and we have a real desire to capture the data on those labels, both sender and receiver, and digitise that for our tracking and delivery systems,” Llewellyn said. “What was asked of me was to find a solution for how our staff could actually capture that information, such as name, address, city, state, phone number etc for both sender and receiver.” Llewellyn said that a number of possible options were looked at.
Australia Post considered mounting a digital camera on a pole above the counter. “But that would have been the ninth peripheral we were plugging into our overloaded POS terminals, not to mention the shopfit costs of fitting that across 4300 stores and about 8500 individual counters across those stores,” Llewellyn said.
That process led Llewellyn to an idea he’d “had a while ago about mobility and the image capture capability of modern mobile phones”. He spent several weeks talking to stores and product owners to understand data capture and processing, and put together a demonstration video that he shopped internally to key stakeholders for buy-in. Llewellyn was able to lean on some previous work deploying tablet devices for its store network, and take advantage of new high-speed in-store connectivity and VMware technology introduced through a massive telecommunications transformation. The result was a ruggedised Android smartphone that could be ‘checked out’ and ‘checked back in’ again at the end of the day by staff, that came pre-loaded with an ever-increasing number of applications and functions. In its trial form, as used in the Chadstone Centre Post Office, the smartphone directly replaces four previously used devices such as laser barcode scanners. However, it is anticipated that the smartphone will eventually replace the use of up to eight in-store peripherals, drastically simplifying in-store technology and - in turn - Australia Post’s vendor support and business-as-usual operating costs. The trial was set up for a four-week period to evaluate if staff liked the smartphones - both concept and execution - since it was the first time they would be expected to carry a device with them at all times to perform their work. It passed this gate easily. “We’re now in week 22 of our four-week trial,” Llewellyn said, noting staff at the Chadstone store had been unwilling to go back to their old systems and processes. While word of the trial had started to spread a little more, Llewellyn indicated it was still fairly unknown within the wider Australia Post network. “I guess in some ways we’ve deliberately kept it a little ‘hush’ amongst all of our stores,” he said. “We did have an opportunity to show a couple of other store managers and they want it. “We have our own expos for our staff and licensees - about 2700 of our stores are licensed post offices - where we show them what’s coming next. “Unfortunately those expos have been cancelled this year because that’s where the ‘big reveal’ was going to be. I expected a stampede of people coming across to see what this thing looked like and how we’re talking about transforming their operations.
“The ‘big reveal’ has been postponed until I think March-April-May next year.” The organisation’s appearance and unveiling at VMWorld 2021, however, may bring that interest forward. Llewellyn also said that his team is already looking at how it can add more capabilities to the smartphones. One of the additions is email, which previously was not available at the front-of-house for compliance purposes. “Our store managers, because of the communication challenges that we have in the store, are often sitting in their back office looking at what we call the backoffice PC where they have access to email, because we can’t put that on the POS counters because of some of our compliance obligations,” Llewellyn said. “They’re sort of forced to go there in case they get an email from head office they have to react to. “Putting email on the mobile device [means store managers can] spend so much more time with their staff in the front of the store and with their customers.” The devices also now carry OneDrive, which Australia Post was already licensed to use. This can be used to capture and lodge health and safety check paperwork, which would otherwise have taken an hour a week to do. “We’re looking at how much more capability we can put on these devices,” Llewellyn said. “We’re really driving hard around things like OCR [optical character recognition], image capture, document scanning, fax replacement potentially, and potentially even things like taking photos for identity documents. “There’s a heap of capability we’re hoping to drag onto this device and really simplify what it means for our staff to get access to all the tools and apps they need to serve the customers and create awesome customer experiences.”
POS transformation
Llewellyn also revealed that Australia Post is “currently in the middle of a four year point_of-sale transformation” that is Covid-disrupted in terms of its timelines. “We sort of got about 18 months into it and the pandemic crashed into everything,” he said. “We currently have a 32-year-old point-of-sale system and it’s a bit of a Frankenstein. It’s got things bolted onto it over the journey to improve the customer experience.
“As we’ve grown and our services have grown organically, we’ve adapted by bolting more and more things onto our venerable POS system, so we’re in the process of transforming that. “That’s going to be really exciting for our staff because I think for the first time in 20 years all of our transactions are going to have a consistent look-and-feel to them, [and] training is going to be simplified.” Llewellyn said there is a team of about 200 people working on the project. One of the future challenges will be getting the ruggedised smartphone system and new POS system “to work together harmoniously.” “The mobile device gives us the ability to take technology with us front-of-house and back-of-house,” Llewellyn said. “Both are vitally important in our stores. Back-of-house is where all of the parcel magic happens and front-of-house is where we’d ideally like to be serving our customers in the future once Covid normality sets back in, chaperoning people through the parcel journey.” Updated 1.05pm: The headline was changed from "Australia Post's plan to run many post office processes off a smartphone" to the current one at Australia Post's request.
Source : https://www.itnews.com.au/news.
4.Alibaba logistics unit Cainiao expands with Air China Cargo investment October 05, 2021
Cainiao Smart Logistics Network, part of e-commerce giant Alibaba, is the latest Chinese logistics player to expand into air cargo.
Last Thursday, through 100%-owned subsidiary Zhejiang Cainiao Supply Chain Management Co, Cainiao paid $248m for a 20% stake in Air China Cargo, the air cargo arm of the Chinese state-controlled airline. Amid the well-publicised capacity and equipment crunch in container shipping, logistics businesses and shippers have been looking at alternatives like air and rail freight. So it is not surprising that this year, logistics players have been flexing their muscles in the air cargo field. In August, Alibaba rival JD.com became China’s first e-commerce company with its own airline, when subsidiary JD Logistics launched Jiangsu Jingdong Cargo Airlines, a joint_venture with Nantong Airport Group.
However, compared with Chinese logistics group SF Express, which set up SF Airlines in 2009, JD and Cainiao are late entrants to the air cargo business. Cainiao having been investing heavily in new infrastructure and transport services since the start of this year. In May, Cainiao launched its first cargo flight between China and Hungary, with an aircraft carrying up to 17 tonnes of goods from China to Alibaba customers in Hungary every day. Cainiao had said there was strong demand from East European customers for speedy delivery, expecting 30% growth in Alibaba’s sales into the region by the end of the year. Supplementing its air logistics, Cainiao extended its trucking network to ferry goods from the airport in Budapest to 10 East European countries, collaborating with Hungarian Post and Polish Post, and in August, the company rolled out a direct container shipping service to bring goods to Alibaba’s customers in South Korea. With six weekly sailings, Cainiao claimed it could cut shipping costs by 30% with goods reaching South Korean customers in three to five days. And in early September, Cainiao launched a parcel locker network in Spain and France, enabling Alibaba’s customers to pick up their packages at their convenience. According to Cainiao it has agreed to collaborate with the parcel delivery service GLS Spain, which has an extensive network of branches and parcel collection stations throughout the country. Cainiao said the service had been piloted in early August and currently serves around 100 Spanish merchants. Cainiao also operates more than 30 overseas warehouses around the world, these facilities occupying a combined area exceeding a million square metres.
Source : https://theloadstar.com/
5.Swiss Post acquires SwissSign Group Ltd. October 04, 2021
Swiss Post has acquired SwissSign Group Ltd. with effect from 1 October 2021. The company will now become an independent subsidiary of Swiss Post Group. Swiss Post had previously held a 17 percent stake in the Swiss joint venture. SwissSign Group Ltd. offers digital services such as SwissID, certificate and signature solutions. The services provided by SwissSign boost the range of digital services available, and, in turn, support Swiss Post’s new strategy. Swiss Post is establishing itself as a trustworthy partner for people, companies and public authorities in the area of secure data transmission. The acquisition will provide it with key expertise and well_established solutions in the area of digital identity. As a government-related entity, Swiss Post is creating the conditions that will allow it to offer Switzerland, the cantons and citizens a secure digital identity if required.
Swiss Post has decided to increase its stake in SwissSign Group Ltd. from the previous 17 per cent, and to acquire the company in full. SwissSign Group Ltd. was founded in 2018 and was previously a joint venture between Swiss Post, other enterprises affiliated with the Confederation and various financial institutions and insurance companies. Its services include: • Identities: issue of SwissID, which allows secure login to online services • Certificates: issue of certificates, which allow encrypted and secure online communication and forgery-proof signing of documents • Signatures: legally valid signing of documents and uploading of documents via the SwissID App The services form the basis for the simple, secure use of online services provided by public authorities and companies.
SwissSign is a good fit for Swiss Post’s new strategy To enable customers to use online services from companies and public authorities easily and securely, services are required for secure digital identification, authentication and, depending on the context, also for legally valid digital signatures. These are precisely the areas where SwissSign Group Ltd. operates. With its range of services, the company is a good fit for Swiss Post’s strategic focus, in particular for the strategy of the new Communication Services business unit. “For Swiss Post, SwissSign’s services play an important role in offering solutions that enable simple, secure and efficient digital interaction between individuals, companies and public authorities,” says Nicole Burth, Member of Executive Management and head of the Communication Services business unit. SwissSign Group already offers the proven, secure login to all Swiss Post online services. Today, over 1.6 million customers use this login. Swiss Post wants to keep this accessthe digital gateway to the “yellow world“ – in its hands in future and develop it further. It means Swiss Post will also continue to offer people and companies a Swiss solution for identity, certificate and signature services as an alternative to international or private market participants.
Securing digital identity expertise
In its “Swiss Post of tomorrow” strategy, Swiss Post assumes the role of a trustworthy, independent intermediary between the physical and digital worlds – including in the area of increasingly digital communication between public authorities and citizens. As an enterprise affiliated with the Confederation with a strong nationwide presence, Swiss Post is the natural choice for this type of service. “It means Swiss Post is also actively involved in the discussions surrounding an electronic identity,” says Roberto Cirillo, CEO of Swiss Post. “We want to develop today’s mostly physical public service, make it fit for the future, and digitize it. If the Confederation, cantons and citizens want an enterprise affiliated with the Confederation to be part of the future e-ID solution, we’ll be ready to provide it.” SwissSign Group Ltd. will become an independent subsidiary of Swiss Post Group. Swiss Post will position SwissSign Group Ltd. with an eye to the future and continue to develop it sustainably. This means that it will invest in the coming years in the existing business areas in which SwissSign Group Ltd. operates to ensure that the company can grow successfully. As the online market continues to grow, secure digital identities are now vitally important to people and businesses in Switzerland. SwissID will therefore remain one of the primary services provided by SwissSign Group Ltd.
Source : https://www.post.ch/en/about-us/media/press-releases/2021
