A friend of mine would like to deposit some money here in Switzerland. He is an American citizen currently living in the States. Here are a few questions that he asked me which I though some of you might be able to answer. Unfortunately I am not a financial expert (yet):-)

What is the typical interest rate with a deposit?
What sort of taxes does an individual have to pay the Swiss government in order to deposit money within a Swiss bank?
Is there fees on top of the taxes, or is there fees only?
How efficient is the online banking?
Is it possible to route money from a US bank account to a Swiss bank account? What are the options for non-residents?
Is there a numbered anonymous account or does it have to be set up using your own name?
Is there a credit / debit card issued by this bank that can be used anywhere?

It might be a bit problematic considering that your friend is a US citizen...

In what sense?

For a normal retail banking account, he'll probably have to prove legal residency and show a Swiss work contract.

Investment banking might be a different story. I've heard that UBS will do business with foreigners if there's more than 25k Sfr involved.

If I were him, I'd go to a UBS office. Not a retail branch but one of their larger offices.

Not sure if I'd recommend UBS for an american, there is enough issues there to only be problematic I'm afraid.

If american, and non-resident of CH, will have a hard, if not impossible time, opening a CH bank account. If talking large sums of money, then a number of private banks may be interested but they will take into account the risk and return aspects.

For starters:

http://www.aca.ch/joomla/index.php?o...=65&Itemid=107

There have been hundreds of articles written in the last few years on how US policies have created a nightmare for US citizens wishing to hold overseas accounts. For many institutions the regulatory headaches mean that it is simply not worth doing business with 'US persons'.

(Unless, of course, your friend is talking about millions... or more...)

A quick google should enlighten your friend.

There have been many threads on this topic on EF; the consensus seems to be that PostFinance is the most US-friendly bank in Switzerland.

I'm from the US and I have a normal UBS consumer banking account. It was easy for me, but I do have a res. permit and a work contract.