Retail Banking & Opening a Bank Account in Switzerland

Opening a Swiss Bank Account

Opening a bank account in Switzerland is in theory accessible to all, but banks do reserve the right to refuse customers. Recent clamp-downs on money laundering and other financial crimes have made it more difficult, especially for non residents, to open bank accounts.

If you are working in Switzerland and wish to open a bank account in order to pay your salary into it and have a credit or debit card you will need the following papers:

• Passport or identity card
• Recent utility bill (electricity)
• Residence permit
• A copy of your work contract
• Cross border workers, a copy of your permis frontalier (cross border work permit)

It is not necessary to make an appointment to open a current account. Opening an account can be done in a day and methods of making payments (cash cards) will usually arrive within a week to ten days of the account being opened. 

Cheque books will take longer to arrive as banks usually request at least two pay slips before issuing a cheque book. 

Most banks do not fix a minimum amount to be deposited if it is for a simple current or savings account. This can be different for banks offering Private Banking services.

In general banks are open from Monday to Friday from 08:30 to 16:30, and are closed at weekends and on public holidays.

Using a Swiss Bank Account

Banks can issue you with a Carte Maestro, this is a debit card that can be used in nearly all shops and for withdrawing cash. The Maestro card also has an embedded CASH chip which can be recharged with a credit of up to CHF 300. This is most commonly used to pay for services such as car parking, phone calls and public transport.

Carte de Crédit is a credit card that can be debited once a month. Banks can charge a commission fee on cash withdrawals made using this card. 

Credit cards are widely accepted in Switzerland, but some shops or restaurants may refuse them for small amounts.

Cheques are not widely used in Switzerland as they are slow and expensive to cash.

Household bills and invoices can be paid through the post office, with a Bulletin de Versement (bill slip) although electronic banking (e-banking) is becoming increasingly popular. Bill slips are attached to each bill that you receive by the post.

E-banking

E-banking via computer, telephone or mobile phone allows you to carry out banking and stock market transactions. Some banks also provide a machine called the multimat. This scans your household bill and deducts the amount from your account. With some banks e-banking is free for others there is a transaction fee.

Major Swiss Retail Banks

• Banque Coop
• Banque Migros 
• Banque Raiffeisen
• Crédit Suisse 
• UBS SA 

Currency Exchanges

Money exchange booths can be found in most towns, cities and airports. They all have different opening hours, with some being open weekends.

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