But they've got a lot better in recent years, as they've come to realise there is a market for that. A friend of mine who is at ZKB says that an awful lot of better endowed and private banking customers are switching to them from the more traditional banks and that they've now created a department specifically to deal with them and give them the level of support and pampering that they are accustomed to from their old banks.

Apparently all savings in Kantonal banks are 100% insured. Is this the same at the postbank?

Personally, I think it's probably the wrong size

Definitely true. The PostFinance doesn't deal with any cash other than EUR and CHF. No way of putting cash in (GBP in my case) or out, except by going to another bank. I only found out after opening my account, and my banker (at the main office in Zurich) did call all around the PostFinance system to see if it was possible.

1 year after, some people are still comparing :P

I also heard of www.comparis.ch, given by a work colegue.

it can helps comparing bank accounts!

First, PostFinance is NOT technically a bank.
Second, nowhere in the world are all savings 100% insured.

as far as I can tell, the state protection in Switzerland was raised from chf 30k to 100k last year.

opened an account with PF today. after having the joining pack for > 1 year, i decided instead to walk to the local branch and the deed was done in 15 minutes.

now just waiting for the card and other bits and bobs so that i can open the e-deposito account. does anyone know how they manage to offer 1% return and still give you pretty flexible access to your money? it really does seem a bit too good to be true...

Does either bank (PF and ZKB) have safe deposit boxes in any of their Stadt Zürich branches?

ZKB definitely have safe deposit boxes

...but availability is limited. You might have to ask, and possibly join a waiting list.

As far as I know, they are backed up by a German bank with their headquarters in Munich. I forgot the name of the bank though. We found that out because a post finance mortgage advisor told us they had to send the mortgage application munich for approval. In the end we opted to stick with Raiffeisenbank, who have been most helpful in all financial matters so far. Their interest rates are also favorable. The only downside is their online banking system in only available in german.

For a no hassle, good interest savings account I can also recommend swissquote.ch