Say you have a UBS account (in Francs), and open another account, also in UBS, but in Euros. So you want to move some of your money there, because you'll eventually need euros, and it looks like a good moment now to do the exchange.

Which choice is better?
A) I take the francs out, go to an currency exchange company X, exchange them into Euros, and put them into my Euro account
B) Just do a transfer between my two accounts and let UBS take care of the exchange

Thanks!

It all depends on the amount and convenience. Typically the small forex shops have more or less the same prices as the banks when you are talking about small amounts (< € 1'000). As of this amount they tend to be better than the banks which require a larger amount to reach the same rate. So you might get the Euro for CHF 1.5 vs CHF 1.515 on a transfer within the bank.

So, if you have to travel across town to find a forex shop and you only want to change small amounts, I would just go for the transfer between accounts.

Thanks.

I'm actually talking about bigger amounts, around 20000 francs. So the best solution is still to do the exchange via UBS, right?

If the official change is 1 CHF = 0.6865 EUR, what exchange rate would you approximately get at a bank by doing the transfer?

With that amount I would ask UBS for a price. When they give you the price, ask if they can do any better. I have sometimes seen at the service desk where they don't give the best price right off. You should also get the best rate since it is just a bank transfer and not cash.

My guess is you will get about 1 to 1.5 Euro cents less than the official trading rate. I do not think that they update the rates on a real time basis either. This sometimes has an impact.

I would not suggest that you take that amount (at least in one trip) to a forex shop. The risk is too high if the wrong people see you withdrawing that much in cash.

The forex shop will need ID for any amounts over CHF 5'000 (money laundering issue)

I didn't expect that I should try to get a better deal by discussing in the desk :-O

Thanks for the advice!

I use ozforex for my trades. They are miles ahead of using a bank.
http://www.ozforex.com.au/
Mark

so, with this ozforex thingy, if you want to buy euros, do you only need a EUR account at your bank, and then when you transfer the CHF to their account, they pay it to your EUR account? Is it cheaper than buying from UBS?

I wanted to exchange similar amount a few months back so i tried different options. Tried the online banking to shift them myself between accounts, tried the forex at a local place (didnt try them but i asked the exchange rate), tried at the counter of the bank and then tried my personal banker ( i dont have millions but as i moved to Switzerland and because i wanted to transfer some money from abroad they assigned me one so i gave him a call) and he gave me the BEST RATE EVER compared with the trading price on the stock of the day.

So try to speak to someone higher than the counter and they can do more for you. Your account thought needs to be assigned to them. By default it is assigned to the branch that you opened the account.

UBS has the best rates on all exchange, transfer, etc. In limited my experience. They're just a bit jumpy with multiple deposits in multiple countries. Anyway, OT!