Hi just joined and had a question....

My husband has just taken a new contract (6 months probably longer) with a swiss bank (ironic I know ) and is working in Zurich. He works and lives in Zurich Monday to Friday, coming home for the weekends. He is employed through an agency as an employee and needs a bank account in Switzerland to pay his salary into.

So to my question - which is the best swiss bank to open an account in? Our main requirements are as follows:-

• low or no monthly fee
• low amount or no requirement for cash to open or level of cash to keep in the account
• low fees and good exchange rate for transferring money into £ and back to the uk (will be done monthly leaving only enough for expenses)
• internet banking so I can control things from the uk
• cash point and/or visa card (no credit card required)

Any recomendations would be much appreciated. Also if anyone could advise on the best way to transfer money to the uk that would be great.

Thank you!

Zurichcontractor (his wife who his left to sort this stuff out )

How about the bank he is employed from?

Thanks - I had thought of that but it is an expensive one! Was hoping for one with lower fees that deal with mere mortals with modest incomes - any suggestions?

La poste!

i need to write longer, so that this msg can be sent. here we go.

Got a chuckle from that requirement.....

We use ZKB and my husband reckons the online internet banking is good - you could also use Postfinance, the online banking is in English, no problems there either.

Best advice I have is to get your husband to open a bank account at the ZKB near to where he works - that way he can step out of the office if he has to deal with his bank for anything complicated.

ZKB (Zurich Kantonal Bank) has the advantage that you will go to a 'real' bank to do your business...we found our local customer service manager speaks fluent english and is extremely helpful.

Excellent choice for you would be the Swiss Post Finance. They were also around on Sunday afternoon when I had a problem sending pounds sterling to Spain. Standard account costs CHF 3.00 per month.

https://www.postfinance.ch/pf/conten...priv/prod.html

I would also consider Postfinance, but I recommend to check their currency exchange rate. I was quite disappointed, it's not the best one.
https://www.postfinance.ch/pf/conten...te/change.html

I found UBS or Credit Suisse currency exchange rate much better. So I ended up like many people in Switzerland having accounts in 2 or 3 different banks.

No, this can invite higher risk. Flick a coin between Credit Suisse and UBS.

We've just opened a bank account with UBS for my wife, and for the first year banking is free.

Hi,
I recently ditched Credit Suisse and joined Postfinance from the Post office. I'm happy with it so far and did some shopping around before to make sure it was suitable.
My requirements were pretty much the same as yours- it's cheaper than the rest, the charges are less, everything is do-able online, cards are taken everywhere (in Swizerland, be careful if you need fuel whilst driving through France!) and there is always a cash machine nearby. They do packages, mine is the "online set" or something and costs 3chf a month I think.
For transferring money I found the best rates are normally one of these guys:
http://www.currenciesdirect.com/uk/
http://www.thomasexchange.co.uk/
You can negotiate a better rate if you send larger amounts and if you are serious you can fix a rate for 12 months by guaranteeing to send a certain amount over that period, the post charges 6 or 8chf to send money to the UK, the rest should all appear in your UK account in a few days.

Hope that helps.

BTW, contractors in Zurich = mere mortals with modest incomes???? Really?

Consider HSBC as they have concessional rates for their cross-border customers and it's particularly easy to move funds from one country to another. They're not so cheap if you are using a different, non-HSBC bank in the other country.

HSBC has particularly good online transfer facilities. They ring you on one of your selected phone numbers (can be a mobile), you click on the one you want them to call, to confirm the validity of the transfer. My daughter uses HSBC as between New York and Paris, and I use it between London and Switzerland -- although I do not have an HSBC account in Switzerland and so don't get some of the same benefits she does.

Access to the HSBC site is sloppy (you use 3 out of 7 or 8 digits in a code series you select). There is some potential susceptibility to keylogging. If you use an Apple Mac or iPhone you are probably, at the present state of technology, safe.

Some Swiss banks (Crédit Suisse) use RSA SecurID so you couldn't access the Swiss account without access to the fob. Others (cantonal banks) provide alternately a code card or a system of SMS messaging to confirm access to their site. The code card you could photocopy; the SMS is keyed to a single mobile phone number.

Nationwide Building Society is the cheapest bank for debit and credit card transactions across borders in Europe (zero loading). But I don't think that's an issue for your fact pattern.

Finally: a wealthy friend says he uses the Swiss PostBank and likes it a lot. If, as originally planned, the European postal banks had integrated their systems this might have been the best solution. But the UK Postal Bank was sold to Allied Irish and it has lost the loyalty of Whitehall, even as to guaranteeing deposits against loss.

There's a big black spider avatar on this thread.....I can't even look at the info in the post! Ugh!!

Had to smile when I read this; HSBC the bank who have just admitted losing data on 24'000 accounts; sold to the French/German authorities it seems; a failed sale to the Lebanese (who turn out to be more honest than the French/Germans, what a world we live in) and ...

UBS also a bank in and out the news a lot; a bank seriously in trouble, with a deep involvement in the financial crisis that gave the world a cold in 2009, and a real hiring freeze in the same year, lasting more then six months; although everybody admits unsinkable given it is backed by the Swiss government... it seems.

UBS also releasing details of clients to the US recently; forced into a corner by the US government; a battle they won to an extent; the US wanted 42'000, they got only 10% of that, but...

That said in fairness to UBS been using their online banking online banking for some years; no complaints. Been with them more then 10 years, current bank manager very good.

Money transfers: http://www.hifx.co.uk/ have been around for some years and I hear do some good deals; better than the banks. Might make sense to agree a deal/fix a currency rate now with the UK pound at an all time low; and a good time to buy pounds. Depends really if you think six months will become a year, 18 months etc etc.

http://www.postfinance.ch/ excellent if your local but unsure where they stand internationally really. Also got online banking with them; no compaints so far either; although only just switched some of my accounts from UBS.

Has any mentioned Credit Suisse? Other big bank here, also a global player, but relatively unaffected by by data losses; dodgy investments; and bad press really...

My advice was based solely on the cost of the transaction and HSBC's favourable policy regarding customers with accounts in two countries. It was HSBC Private Bank that got into trouble, and these days the first thing out of your mouth when introducing yourself to a new bank should be "This account will be reported on my home country tax declaration."

There may be (and probably are) better deals for one-off large transactions, but for frequent, small transfers I doubt it's worth thinking about. in fact even with HSBC if you try to transfer more than (I think) CHF 10,000 electronically, you will be referred to the Forex trading room at HSBC and they will make you a firm offer based on the market at that moment.

The special deal relates mainly to using the HSBC debit card from one country in the ATM of an HSBC branch in another. If there's a Swiss bank that offers Nationwide's fee-free deal in reverse, go for it.

Just reading through this again and just noticed.. its the wife who wants an account that SHE can control from the UK can anybody recommend a bank in which you can not control remotely so the poor fellow has the option ...

I think she means check the balance and perform operations. And that, if she wants cash, she can use a debit card in the UK.

HSBC would do that. She should be a joint account holder.

Thank you so much for all your advice. We (ie me) have decided to go with Postfinance and then use one of the companies suggested to transfer money at the best exchange rate.

It was so easy to set up online (avoiding my husband having to go into a bank in his lunch hour - he is in IT and does not like to go out in daylight ) and a cheap monthly fee

Glad you all found it amusing that I am controlling my poor husband from here but I am also his accountant lol and need to keep an eye on my clients finances and of course spend his money on shoes, handbags etc.

Again thank you its lovely that you all took the time to help me with much needed advice.

xxxxxxx

HSBC Premier has no monthly fee. I set up everything from over here. One of the only banks that didn't want to know our salary details when opening an account - why should they know this when the account isn't for salary

Says it all! such an account does not exist. Women have the power to control finances through the ether. they do not need such primitive technologies as broadband and computers. I tell you its a scam involving hairdressers, overpriced clothing retailers and car mechanics - all beings from another race carefully put on this earth to observe and assimilate.