I need advice on how fast can I open a bank account on my arrival to Switzerland, especially that I will not have a permanent accommodation for the first few weeks, i.e. no electricity bill or rental agreement or anything like that. only passport, employment contract and whatever proof of permit approval. will this be enough to open a bank account next day to my arrival?

You should have no problems with UBS based on what you have, they will give you and account number there and then and a Maestro card/ebanking details should follow a few days later. Once you have your permit you can apply for a Visa/Mastercard credit card.

Opening a bank account is extremely easy and stress-free in this country.

Same apply with PostFinance. I orginally opened an account with the documents you mentioned with UBS but it's a restricted account in the sense that you can't the UBS card to pay for shopping etc. It's a personal savings account with restrictions. Hence, I had to use cash all the time to pay for my shopping etc and it was a bit of hassel. Though, opening an account was extremely easy.

I then opened the account with Post finance with same documents with similar ease. Advantage with post finance is that you can use post finance card to pay for your shopping and don't have to have cash all the time.

I know Credit Suisse also has the similar service but little expensive in terms of monthly account charge.

In brief, no issues opening a bank account.

Hope this helps.

Except if you are American

Indeed. I just spoke with Baseler Kantonalbank today. My wife is a US citizen and was only able to open what was referred to as a "Payroll" account. This is nothing more than a basic account which functions as a checking account.

I was informed today that now these accounts are not even available to US citizens.

If this information is true and applies to all Swiss banks, then I can't see how new residents could function with only non-Swiss bank accounts. Let alone the transfer fees and exchange rate costs, how can one function as a resident?

As for the tax implications; unless your only income is from your payroll and you are on a B-permit being taxed at source, I would assume there would be problems explaining to the tax authorities why you don't have a Swiss bank account.

My banker admitted that this is a new procedure, and may change. However, it may change for the worse. He warned that it may be possible that existing US account holders like us may loose their banking privileges entirely.

Has anyone else received this information?

Switzerland has always been easy on money transfers, foreign accounts, etc. The authorities are not bothered where your Bank is in the world. They are also acutely aware of the skirmishes with the US IRS and the reluctance of Swiss Banks to get involved with US clients.

Hello,

Haven't posted much, but just moved to CH and this is a relevant response.

I am soon starting a job in Duebendorf, and went around today looking to open a bank account so I can be paid, and, well, function in this country. I first went to UBS, told the man at information of my situation, and he went back to his boss. He came back and said "sorry, no accounts for Americans" and referred me to PostFinance. I then tried CreditSuisse and was flatly rejected by the teller when she discovered my US Passport. Finally, decided to give Zuercher Kantonalbank a shot before heading to PF and found not only the best English speaker (sorry, but I am still trying to learn German) and she was very helpful in letting me have an account. It's only a basic account, but she did say that we (wife and I) could have a Maestro Card and credit card as soon as the working permit came through (we only registered at the Stadthaus yesterday).

So it seems that it is possible to get a bank account for an American. I am sure that I would at least have been able to get one through PF.

Stress-free but not Free

Happy to hear Kantonal Bank is still offering payroll accounts to American citizens. My wife opened hers last November. However, as I mentioned before, our contact at the Kantonal bank in Basel who also speaks perfect English reports that he is not sure if this will continue.

You are probably correct about Post Bank account. At least this will give a local account available to pay bills if even the Kantonal banks stop opening accounts for Americans.

Be careful of Kantonal banks - I forgot my PIN code for the ATM and the only solution was for them to issue a new card, which would cost 20CHF!
A bit primitive of banking practices in the 21st century, eh?

That is a high fee for a replacement card. I remember that not too long ago, I paid $5 to Chase for a replacement. However, that was just a fee to have it shipped 2nd day UPS rather than by normal post.

I wonder if the fee is specific to the Kantonal bank. As we learn quickly in this country, user fees are a good revenue source for companies as well as for the government.

The Swiss term this the "Verursacher-Prinzip", which roughly translates to causer pays.

So instead of high taxes and many "free" services, we enjoy low taxes but the authorities charge for every consumer specific service. An example is paying for garbage bags.

I just opened a PostFinance E-Finance account for me and my wife a couple of weeks ago. I showed them our US passports and the two pieces of paper from the canton that show that our B-permits are being processed. We had absolutely no problems getting an account and no one gave us any grief whatsoever.

if you have an L Pass which I have UBS ask you to block off 2,000 in your account for SECURITY..hardly flexible and actually a cheek.

After Kantonaler recent upgrades they have screwed up my transactions and offer very poor service....

I'm a US citizen and I opened an account with UBS approx. one week ago. I took my work contract, my apt lease, my passport, and my B permit. It's strange that people are getting different answers from the same companies.

Hi
I am with Graubunden Katonal Bank and yesterday they cancelled all of our investments (portfolio) and put them into our liquid account. They took away our credit card and ebanking. They said we can keep the cash account and need to use checks...which they have ordered. The bank found out that we have an American Passport in addition to our Switzerland passports.

Today, I spoke to the Local Geminde about our Tourist Tax (470 chf) and they said the bills would be out this week. I told them we would send them a check and she told me they don't take checks. They want a direct payment into their account. I can handle that when we are here but when out of the country don't know what I will do without ebanking. Nobody wants a check or cash!~

Alfons

Ask a relation, friend, accountant or lawyer to pay on your behalf.

Thanks - good idea to get the accountant to do it for me.

I wonder, why is the bank going to give us checks if nobody wants checks? Will the Kanton and Geminde take a check for our taxes?

Trying to not rely on people doing favors for us - been that way for years but was easy with ebanking.

Thanks
Alfons

Hey,

I just moved to CH and went for Credit Suisse. Advantage with them is you can wisdraw money at any ATM from any bank. UBS has similar fees unless you have CHF10 000 when you open ur account.