I would appreciate your help:
i' m thinking of opening an account in Switzerland, but which bank should i choose?
-i barely visit CH more than once a year
-i don' t speak german-italian-french (my english is pretty decent)
-friendly e-banking and good mail communication is a MUST
-no service/monthly fee is preferable
-interests??(are there any in swiss banks)
-easy opening
i' m talking about 50.000 euro
Thank you all guys

Why do you want an account here if you don^t live here and barely come here more then 1 time per year?

It is almost impossible to find a fee free account and to be blunt the amount you have nominated to Swiss banks is most likely not attractive to offer someone outside the country an account. Add an extra digit to the length of the amount and they might become interrested

PostFinance offer 1.25% on that amount of Euros through an e-deposito account. I know they let non-residents open certain accounts (some non-resident members of this forum have said so recently) but you can always call or email them to check precise details - then you could open an account with your passport when here. They make no account fees for deposits of that size.

www.postfinance.ch

Thanks a lot!!

50.000 is just the start...

Hi,

Just joined UBS as they have free banking for new customers for first year. Online banking available, in english. They spoke english in the branch also.

Otherwise, I had also been advised by friends to use post-bank as they are cheap.

Hope this helps

We chose UBS when we moved over here as they do paperwork in English as well. Best thing is to have a look at their website and see what kind of accounts they have available.

thanks a lot for you help, but there might be a problem because i'm not a CH resident.

Just put it in my bank account here.

You're very welcome.

thank you soooo much!!! but what could i offer you in return??

Just for information.
I have experience with Post finance, credit suisse, ubs banks

Post Finance is the best one:
You can have free bank account no charges at all.
If you keep min of 7500 CHf in account they don't charge nothing at all, but if it goes below than that they charge only 3 CHF which i suppose is not huge

Credit Suisse offers a similiar free saving account with no fees at all too.

UBS is costliest deal till now for me.

In Post finance and CS you will get a a simple debit card from which you can withdraw money from there ATM machines only for free with other bank atms they charge some amount.
Best thing there netbanking service is very good and is free of charge.

Thanks a lot Fig!

I have a basic account in credit suisse (since 2 months or so) and it has fees. Is there a different account for free?

If you are not Swiss, not a resident, and don't own property here, seems unlikely you can open an account here.

I think Postfinance allows ( member RetiredinNH from abroad has an account and even a Debit Card from them )

I opened my first account with UBS but they have a monthly charge so I changed to one of the kantonal Banks.... you do not need to live here and no monthly charge. We have been very impressed with their service. Last time we went they even gave us chocolate (no interest)

Chocolate??mmmm!!
I asked Zurich Kantonal Bank and they want a minimum 100.000 CHF, otherwise there is a monthly(or annual) charge.
Do you know any other requiring less money ? (without fee)
Thanks a lot

The fees are not that high if you really want an account, the Swiss banks are looking to make a profit out of their customers. Post finance is your best bet, nobody else will be interested.

ZKB charge something like 30CHF or much less I think per year. If you have 50K Euro to invest and are worried about 30CHF as an annual fee then your priorities need checking especially as the interest you will get is shocking on that much money. You could send it into a main stream bank in Australia and get 5-6% without a worry as the banks there are probably as secure as a swiss bank.

The risk with the Ausrtrailan $ is it will be worth less by more than the 5-6% interest rate before tax.

Maybe but its worth a lot more then the american peso and will most likely move to 1.20 agains the USD in the next 1-2 years and been holding parity against the swiss for the last 5 years (although it did take a drop for a while but recovered)