I have some money in a bank account which I was using while I was living in Germany. That account is still valid. Now I am not sure if it would be financially wise to transfer the money to my current UBS account to be saved as Francs or to keep it back there in Euros.

Thanks for your ideas and advices.

You can keep it in Euros at UBS. They will open a Euro account for you if you want.

Without knowing how much is involved, it is not possible to give a precise answer.

Also is your savings account in euros taxed at 35% on the interest. Can you claim this back? What is the interest rate? And what would your bank in Germany charge to transfer to UBS?

You can have a euro account in Switzerland of course and get higher interest than the CHF, and claim back some/all the 35% deducted from the inerest....

Unless you like the silly interest rates you get given in CH keep it where it is. If you want something closer open a German Post account and then you will be getting 4+% interest and it will be quite accessible. Also cheap to import it into a Swiss Post account.

Euros + Sterling seem to be going up against CHF. Not good if you have bills to pay back home! Means your money goes less far.

Saying that it can't last.

Been looking at the year trends for Euro Vs CHF and Sterling vs CHF on the BBC. The pound is far too strong and lets hope the rate drops $2 to the £ aint good for the UK businesses working with foreign customers. Good for people paid in Sterling though going abroad.

Similar trend for Euros vs dollar + chf.

There's enough money people on this forum who could tell you a lot more, been 7 years since I worked on For. Ex.

Well I don't have any bills to pay in Euros or no specific interest to keep the money in Euros ( in Germany or here in Switzerland). I just am not sure about the trends of Euro Vs Swiss franc. If the Swiss Franc is going to depreciate further then I am probably better off keeping it in Euros or maybe it wont fall any further and its a good time to transfer the money to Francs.

is there a cost associated with the German account?

The cost associated is minimal.

Nothing wrong with diversifying a bit of currency. If you dont need the cash then just leave it in euros. However swiss franc seems undervalued - the carry trade is ensuring that. Will bounce back in due time.

Till then, aussie dollars are doing great when exchanged to francs. :-))))

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/f...12/default.stm

This link might help if it works on 12 month Euro vs CHF, worked 2 mins ago!!

Another option and a bit of a swindle is to buy up gold coins with it import the coins to CH and sell them back to CH bank. (I didn't tell you to do this!)

I forget the ins/outs of it now and I used CI to UK, but theres a definate tax break somewhere. Depends if you want to declare them at customs, erm <cough>

It how I took my meager savings out of the Channel Islands (Cough - tax avoidance, still have my account with a few rainy day beans in)

Gold seems to be doing okay at the moment. On the way back up

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/f...31/default.stm

Just off loading it could be a problem if you don't do your homework, but it will only gain long term unless something mad happens. (Might be time to ask a lot of "hypothetical questions to gold brokers in Switzerland")

I really shouldn't be saying this, but it's a lot safer than diamonds etc. As you need to know what you're doing to avoid trouble.

Basically you're looking for high value, small items that are easy to shift to avoid the taxman. Hmm should have been a money launderer.

The Swiss Franc is pretty low against the Euro at the moment so you'd get a good deal converting to Francs.

However as others have said I gather that the CHF is considered undervalued. Therefore if you find yourself having to convert later on (cos you might need the money in Switzerland) you risk getting a lower rate for your Euros.

On the other hand, Euro interest rates are higher than Swiss ones and set to go up. So you will be able to get better return on interest payments if the cash is denominated in Euros.

You can of course keep them in a Euro account in Switzerland and benefit from Eurozone interest rates too...


Whatever you do, speak to your bank about what sort of returns they can offer you on the savings. Standard current accounts are appalling and rates can vary appreciably between savings accounts. Shop around for the best deal between banks too.

This all obviously depends on the amount of cash you're moving 2000 Euros is a lot different to 200,000 Euros obviously.

If it is this much you should seek professional advice!

In fact interest rates for the Euro have gone up today to 4%. But the £ has gone up against the Euro and fallen against the CHF on the days trading as I type!

I'll never understand it. What I really want, as I near the end of my time in Switzerland is a window of opportunity. A computer glitch that sends the CHF soaring against the £ for just long enough to get all my Swiss money transferred into £ at a generous rate. Sure is a bummer when the difference in the rate you started the job at v the rate now effectively means you taken a paycut!

I know what you're saying because I'm in the same situation. Right now, I perceive the CHF-GBP exchange rate to be pretty unfavourable to me so I'm just holding on to my cash in CHF. I'll be checking around to see about maximising my income from the capital with some sort of 1 year fixed term low risk fund.

I'm guessing that Sterling is overvalued and will have fallen by then. At that point I'll consider transferring funds to GBP. Or maybe if I'm getting a good rate of return and Sterling looks like it has further to fall I'll keep them in CHF.

Obviously, if for some reason you need the funds as GBP now that isn't an option and you just have to swallow a crap exchange rate.


(If you look at the longer term exchange rate, the franc has been declining continuously against sterling from mid 2005. There was a blip around 3/2006 when Sterling fell back a little from its peak at 1/2006 but since then its been all one way traffic with Sterling appreciating.)

Checked the rate again today for CHF to £

The £'s nearly back up to its 52 week high.

Does anyone know if this is purely down to the "carry trade" or if there is something else underlying the apparent weakness of the franc? I feel sure something big is going to happen soon to frighten investors out of the carry trade and restore some strength to the Swiss Franc.Trouble is....will it happen soon enough???

I know how this works out. After this month and after I have transferred all my money back over to the UK, the £ will collapse

I know.....I just know it will

Well I'd say the pound has to crash at some point this can't go on forever.

Looking at the US $ to pound over the last 20 odd years 2:1 is v v rare.

So I assume CHF : £ has to strengthen at some point

two words:
Gordon Brown

Do you absolutely have to transfer the money back in the sterling soon? You could consider leaving it in CHF for the time being. If it's an appreciable amount, speak with your bank about investment options.


Sterling is considered by many economic commentators to be heavily overvalued at the moment and the Swiss Franc is in a period of weakness. My advice is to hold out and see which way things go, if you don't need the cash immediately.

About time the UK joined the Euro, might make things easier. Always get suckered into paying to much with Sterling = Euro on a 1:1 Conversions

NOt sure what your particular situation is, but I can't live in Switzerland without a Euro account. I travel quite often to Germany, France and Italy, so would rather have an interest bearing Euro account to draw from when needed. Credit Suisse keeps CHF/Euros/Dollars for me. Many of the ATMs also dispense Euros here. I am sure a private banker could take care of you, if the amounts are high enough.

fduvall