Hi,

I saw a few threads on similar issue but could not get a conclusive answer, I will be moving from Boston, USA to Lausanne, Switzerland. I do not have a Swiss bank account set up and it will not be till I reach Lausanne. How can I transfer/ carry my savings from a US bank account to Switzerland?

I use a wallet in my pocket. My wife uses a wallet in a handbag. Wire transfers work pretty well for larger sums but you may want to talk to your bank on the US end to figure out how to do it without you being present.

Depends how much money is involved.

It's easy enough to do an international transfer (wire) - our bank charges about $20 for costs their end, and you lose on the currency rate as well...

Getting cash out of ATM's here is easy - that is how we 'move' money - actually, our friends have been transferring emergency 'cash' into our Aussie account and we just give them swiss money here...saves them having to mess around with exchange!

It takes about a week for us to make an international transfer from our swiss account back to our Australian one, and we lose quite a bit doing it...

I opened an account at UBS and they allowed me to deposit a check from the US account into my new swiss account. the rate was not that bad and the funds only took a few days to clear. The bank tellers are not all familiar with the process, so you may have to ask your account officer to explain it to them - but it was really pretty painless.

We just relocated from the US and had an appointment last Friday at UBS. The individual we met with specifically dealt with American citizens and had all the answers we needed. You can even set up a USD account so that when you transfer from the US the currency does not convert.. you can then pay bills in the US, in USD, from the account. It all seemed pretty simple... We have not tried any of this, but it sounded simple.