Investment Banks here give their full time employees a mortgage discount.
I am wondering how they compare between banks?

What sort of deals are on offer?
Are the employee deals simply reductions in interest, or are there relaxations on own capital required to put down?

What are penalties like if you are made redundant/get fired/change jobs?

My idea would be to buy a property with two or three apartments in it, and live in one.

As a normal customer, I have been to see well known high street banks in Switzerland, and some smaller regional ones. The big banks seemed quite cautious in terms of leverage. A regional bank in Aargau appeared the most flexible in terms of leverage, further loans for renovation, etc.

Not sure if this is the same with what you are looking for, but spouse works at a bank which has a relationship with another bank, which happens to be where we have mortgage. When took out the original mortgage and upon re-newal as well, were offered a reduction in the % interest based on this relationship. It wasn't huge, but did make a difference. So I presume if you leave job, etc. it would depend on the situation when you obtained the mortgage or renewal, and as it is generally fixed in the contract for certain years, I don't think it could change during its duration.

I work for an insurance company. We get 1% discount on the headline rate from ZKB. We managed to negotiate pretty much that in any case..... However, when it comes to renewing I might take this. And if we leave, I believe it reverts to the normal rate.

Do you have to declare the discount as an income on your tax form or is it a defacto legal pay under the table?

No, but of course you cannot claim the full interest as discount, only the amount you pay.

You also keep the discount from your employer when you retire...

Our friend works at a private Swiss bank and told me that he pays about the same interest as we do (2.5% on a 5 year fixed mortgage). He doubts if employees of banks get greatly reduced rates.

The discounts can't be that much. 2 different couples I know have their mortgages with one bank and work for another bank. They work at different banks too. You also need to look at repayment schedules. UBS wanted us to repay our second mortgage in 11 years instead of by retirement (making it ridiculously expensive) and wanted an additional 1% interest for the second mortgage.

Ok, thanks everyone for all the advice. It sounds like it is not worth letting this influence my choice of employer!