Sorry if it's already been posted, I tried the search.

Would like to open a Swiss account, mostly for trading stocks & storing some metals. Prefrably in Geneva but no essential.

I don't have much in assets at present but trying to plan ahead for the future.

My question is, can I open an account with a small deposit (£10,000) or less?

Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks.

If it's any help - I asked a Swiss bank this same question a few years ago and the answer was yes. And, yes, a deposit is required. I seem to remember that then it was about 5000.00 GBP.

I don't know what the situation is now though. I didn't follow it through as the money wouldn't have been doing much for me sitting in a Swiss account.

Thanks for the replys but ive contacted around 8 or so already. All of them said they needed a minimum deposit to open an account for a non-national.

The cheapest deposit I could find was 300,000 chf!

Anyone else opened an account or have info? Thanks

If you are not a Swiss resident, I think you will find it very unlikely that you can open a bank account here without less than CHF500,000...

Get busy enriching yourself through legal & illegal means now facecrook, then once you accumulate a bag-full, come back & they'll take you in with open arms...

Is the above true even for basic saving/current accounts?

I'm a student and will be moving to Zürich soon and would prefer to not have to use my UK based account when over there.

Once you are registered here you can easily open a Post Finance current and a savings account.

If you are a student in Zürich then you will be a Swiss resident so no problem?
What are you studying? Nothing too complex I hope.

ok, what if I applied for a work visa & hired an apartment as a temporary address? anyone

lol

I'm studying German & Economics here in Scotland at the moment, but in September I will begin a 12 month period of residence in Zürich (and will return to ZH after my studies are finished in Aberdeen, 2 years afterwards). Good to hear I shouldn't have any problems then, thanks for the info.

As a Briton with a long-term plan to take up residence in Switzerland, I very much hope that I will not need to burgle Buck House in order to make my first deposit...

Ok, kids, it's not difficult. The basics are something like this:

• Once you are RESIDENT in Switzerland, you can open an account no problems, no or almost no deposit.
  
• If you are NOT a resident in Switzerland, you need 500K+ deposit to open and account.

There will be a written exam on this later on.

I just went to UBS with my passport and contract, before getting permit, and had a 'salary' account in about 10 mins.
Though maybe you're talking of a different type of account...

Aye, my apologies, I failed to notice the original poster wasn't resident in Switzerland, despite the information in the thread title. The lesson: I should read the thread properly next time.

About 6 weeks ago we opened an account at Die Post without a deposit and it still has nothing in it! We also opened an account at ZKB and deposited $9,000 USD in it immediately- weren't told about a minimum deposit when we opened it.

No we're not collecting Swiss bank accounts! It's just that the paperwork seemed to be taking long with Die Post we we just walked into the ZKB and they opened an account for us on the spot.
Cheers,
Sue

I'm sorry but why on earth would you want to open a bank account in Switzerland?? There are far better and more private jurisdictions. If you are settled on opening an account in Switzerland I will PM you with the name of a bank who will open an account for non-residents without deposit.

No offence intended "facecrook" (so please don't take it as such) but your nickname makes me laugh .

Oh ... and welcome to the forum .

yeh maybe should have thought that one through before asking for bank details, because I'm far from a crook haha

Oops, me too. Sorry!

Even closing is even difficult!