I was wondering in which currency it would make the most sense to keep your savings in, during the next months of uncertainty.

If a bank here fails, the Franc will probably take a dive.

If something bad happens in the Euro zone, the franc will probably also take a dive, as the two currencies seem to fluctuate with in 5% from each other.

The USD has been getting stronger lately, compared to EUR and CHF..

The JPY has left the EUR and CHF in the dust...

Norwegian Krona???

Gold is going for 890$/Oz

Canned food and bottled water??????

So, what would you suggest?

It of course depends on where you want to be in the future.

Long term the Swiss franc has about outpaced ever other currency. There were 20 to the UK pound in the 1950s. Don't discount the Swiss gold reserves as an aid to the franc either...

I strongly suggest in investing in a shovel, digging a hole in the garden and burying your money in there..
We could be in for a long wait so for heaven's sake don't forget to draw a map..
Jeremy Clarkson asked the accountant in the Sunday Times to pay him 4 Lamb chops for last week's article wonder what he'll ask for next week..

if it´s of any use here this week in UBS in Zurich there was a big queue to buy gold. people were walking out with ingots stuffed in their pockets/handbags. do they know something we dont?

..and no shovels to be found anywhere in Zürich

OK, but which currency should we bury in the garden please??

Swiss chocolate cold coins that way if it all goes belly up we can sit in our gardens devouring chocolate waiting for the world to end..

Who ever knows the answer to your question is a rich man. The existing exchanges is the sum of all traders opinions of the various economies in the future. I wish I had the answer !

thanks for your answers...

The spread for CHF/USD today was 7%!!!! I guess only the bank is entitled to some profit.

This is not the worst case I saw today, a certain bank had a 234% spread on one of the currencies!

Slimey ba*tar*s...

Savings are a long term investment and you're looking at exchange rates with short term eyes. USD getting stronger..??
The first time I came to Switzerland in Feb. 1985 one USD bought me over 2.80chf...!!! So if things continue the way they have since the last 23 years then one USD will probably only fetch around 0.30chf (30 Rappen) by year 2031 (and I am being optimistic).
Check the charts for yourself:

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/data/EXSZUS.txt

The Swiss Franc is well known as being (one of) the most resilient stable, safe currency that money moves to in turbulent times / recessions.
But past recessions have not been so centred on banking as the cause (where Switzerland's economy has its backbone).

How about investing in a mattress factory?

well..

I ended up by dividing the money between Postfinance and Zürcher Kantonalbank and keeping everything in Francs for the time being.

Gold is "sold out" according to the ZKB guy and has to be ordered...

I always look at it from the standpoint of where you'd like to retire. As an American banker people ask me all the time if they should be worried about the dollar's decline. The answer is no if they intend to retire in the US, which most do. (Keep in mind that some fantastic percentage of Americans don't even have a passport!)

Personally I intend to return to CH, so I keep funds in CHF (and declare it to the IRS....grrrr). Since I earn USD at the moment I also own a lot of US stocks with international earnings, such as PM, HNZ, XOM.

The retort I often get is that the dollar will become so worthless that no one except rich foreigners will be able to afford to live in Manhattan (where a lot of my friends live). This is a good point, but there's lots of bargains in "flyover country". And if things get REALLY bad, remember that the largest number of American expats live in Mexico. Plus you can drive there!

Americans have a fear of Mexico as being unsafe / unstable, but in fact it's head and shoulders above living further south, say Guatemala or El Salvador. The "switzerland" of the western hemisphere seems to be Panama, though as you might expect it's no bargain.

I know the OP asked about short term savings, but it's always best to take the long view. No major currencies are redeemable in gold, but the swiss franc is about as good as it gets from this perspective. The "banking crisis" is nothing to worry about IMHO, as the US's charging of Weil only means less cooperation between governments and is a good thing for swiss banking clients worldwide, who are relieved to see Switzerland stand up to US bullying (be it wars, taxes, or cultural imperialism).

Apparrently Poland is doing well in the current recession/depression and banks there pay more interest than here... Did you consider Polish Zloty (PLN)?
On the onther hand God knows for how long...

The banker's advice is best - arrange your risk to what is safest for your circumstance and try to take a long term view. If you retire with all your cash in dollars and all your expenses in francs you risk your income halving when you can do nothing about it. Pity the poor Brits who retired to the Costa del Sol only to see the pound drop by nearly 30% in the last year alone.

The last few years the Euro has been particularly strong against the franc - it used to run at about 1.40 francs to the euro butlate last year it even touched 1.65 before falling back to the current levell of about 1.50.

The Swiss Franc has been a safe currency for decades and the swiss banks are probably better placed than many to weather the storm.

The Euro is still a new currency and, whilst it now represents the biggest single economic block in the world, it's worth remembering that some of the euro zone members have the worst of histories. It dropped like a stone against the dollar in the first few years of its existence as a result, hitting about 88 cents at the low point before the rally of the last few years. Last Spring it was worth nearly $1.60 and today it's worth a bit less than $1.30.

The Euro will probably still hold out ok but I'd tend to bet on the Swiss Franc more than the Euro - the trend of the last six months points towards about 1.40 by the second half of the year. But then again, trend analysis is like trying to drive down the street by only looking in the rear view mirror!!

(Amazing the things you think of whilst trying to fight off the jet lag in a Tokyo hotel room.)

A friend keeps recommending bullionvault.com as a place to invest in gold. A brief look on the website makes it look interesting...

Explain please. What was the quote and for which currency pair?

That was ISK/CHF, but I dont remember the qoute. But the ZKB has a price for notes, buy 100 ISK for 0.01 CHF and Sell 100 ISK for 1.24 CHF.

Any advice on how I can buy some ISK is greatly appreciated.