Swiss banks start terminating bank accounts for Swiss living abroad

[Dario]

As a Swiss national I have a Swiss bank account. Today I received a letter from my (very small) bank informing me that (unfortunately) they have to terminate my contract as they can no longer support bank services for Swiss living abroad. I'm living since 29 years here and a few years back I especially flew to Switzerland just to open that account so the Swisss Pension Fund (AHV) can transfer my monthly pension.

The pending termination end of January 2016 comes as a slap into my face.

I'm really not keen on flying again to Switzerland just to open a new bank account again. I would like to ask if there are any fellow Swiss citizens in this forum who might know which of the approximate 400 different banks in Switzerland would accept a registration via Internet and snail mail without requiring to be present in Switzerland to sign a contract. I was able to do just this for my bank account in Germany. All I had to do get the necessary documents legalized by the Swiss Embassy in Thailand.

Any help of co-citizens would be very much appreciated. You can also PM me.

[Tomtomtom69]

I'm Swiss too (well dual national actually, but still).

This happened to me last year with UBS. My bank decided that my written letter indicating my new Swiss address, which happens to be where my auntie and uncle live is insufficient proof that I live there.

They wanted a copy of a council report or "Domizilbestätigung" to confirm I reside at the indicated address. This whole fuss erupted because the person where I sent my mail (a family friend) decided to remove the sticker with my name from her letterbox. So any mail sent there (despite insisting I receive no physical mail, but the bank still insists some mail such as yearly tax statements must be sent by mail) was returned to the bank.

So yes, the decision by my family friend to remove a tiny sticker from her letterbox set off a chain of events that caused my bank, UBS, to force me to deposit CHF 10,000 into a 30 CHF monthly fee checking/transaction account with no credit card access unless I deposited an additional amount for a secured credit card lest they be forced to close all my accounts, credit card included.

So within 2 months, that's what I was forced to do. I paid off the credit card and closed all accounts with those bastards. After being a loyal customer for 32 years. What a slap in the face.

The only thing you can do is go over to Switzerland, sign your documents in person (maybe PostFinance won't require you to do so, but then you will probably need a Domizilbestätigung anyway, which they won't issue if you're registered as living abroad) AND indicate a SWISS address as your domicile. You should reach an agreement with family, relatives or friends and seek their agreement to have your mail forwarded there. THEN make sure that they NEVER touch your name sticker on their letterbox.

As you know, unlike in most other countries where people's addresses are listed by the house number and nobody would ever put their name on their letterboxes, in Switzerland, EVERYONE who resides at said address has their name on the letterbox.

[swissie]

As a fellow "swissie" I can only say this: Only can apply if you officially disclose that your main domicile will not be Switzerland anymore.=Abmeldung.! (as long as you are "Angemeldet" Goverement-State- Pension (AHV),will remain taxable.in Switzerland. But you will get to keep your swiss-bank-account until the day you die.

Unfortunately, P.O Boxes and other "creative=addresses" in Switzerland are a thing of the past.

Relax: I have not had a swiss bank account for the last 4 years. Not necessary !

Before you run to a "trustworthy" Thai-Lawyer, PM me. I can save you tons of money.

= I speak english, swiss-german / orthodox-german / french / and spanish

Viele Gruesse , or cheers, as the case may be..

.

[alocacoc]

but the bank still insists some mail such as yearly tax statements must be sent by mail) was returned to the bank.

I have an account at Credit-Suisse. I switched to e-documents. Even the yearly tax statements will not sent by post anymore. I have to download it from Directnet as .pdf documents.

I guess its hard - not possible to open a bank account online in Switzerland. It was also hard to find a Bank in Austria. But finally i did found one. May be they offer CHF accounts. If this could help you, let me know.

Edited January 16, 2016 by alocacoc

[Swiss1960]

Unfortunately, Thailand is not a white-listed country when it comes to banking and financial transactions... that means that

- either banks that allow you to keep your account in Switzerland when living in Thailand will only allow you a limited product range to keep / purchase or

- smaller banks don't want to keep up with the additional requirements for scrutinity and due dilligence for a very limited base of foreign clients

It took me two months of discussion and due dilligence and compliance checking to ensure that my bank (UBS) did keep me (a 30 year client and former employee) as a client and did continue to offer me services like e-banking, fund management, checking account, allowed me to keep my debit and credit cards etc and move me into the "international clients" segment of the new "Swiss bank" unit the created last year. My accounts now are with my Thai address, I have no contact adress in Switzerland for my bank, but i am doing everything through e-banking (also had to sign an e-mail waver in order to be contacted through e-banking mail) and have all my documents and invoices (i.e. credit card) as e-documents.

Of course, there is a minimum amount of money they require you to have in the accounts (I think it is 50K Swiss at present) in order to make it worth for UBS to consider you as international client and yes, I also have to have a block on my credit card limit to ensure that I pay and I also have to have direct debit for my credit card invoice, but for me, it is worth paying the management fees for my relationship with UBS.

The only financial institute that I am aware of that has a MANDATE to accept international (Swiss) clients is postfinance. However, whether they accept applications from abroad and not in person, I am not aware of. You will definitely need to send in your documents through post, as the banks do require original signatures. It might help to have your passport copies and signatures certified by the Embassy in BKK in order to give the bank the security they need for their compliance department.

[Tomtomtom69]

Unfortunately, Thailand is not a white-listed country when it comes to banking and financial transactions... that means that

- either banks that allow you to keep your account in Switzerland when living in Thailand will only allow you a limited product range to keep / purchase or

- smaller banks don't want to keep up with the additional requirements for scrutinity and due dilligence for a very limited base of foreign clients

It took me two months of discussion and due dilligence and compliance checking to ensure that my bank (UBS) did keep me (a 30 year client and former employee) as a client and did continue to offer me services like e-banking, fund management, checking account, allowed me to keep my debit and credit cards etc and move me into the "international clients" segment of the new "Swiss bank" unit the created last year. My accounts now are with my Thai address, I have no contact adress in Switzerland for my bank, but i am doing everything through e-banking (also had to sign an e-mail waver in order to be contacted through e-banking mail) and have all my documents and invoices (i.e. credit card) as e-documents.

Of course, there is a minimum amount of money they require you to have in the accounts (I think it is 50K Swiss at present) in order to make it worth for UBS to consider you as international client and yes, I also have to have a block on my credit card limit to ensure that I pay and I also have to have direct debit for my credit card invoice, but for me, it is worth paying the management fees for my relationship with UBS.

The only financial institute that I am aware of that has a MANDATE to accept international (Swiss) clients is postfinance. However, whether they accept applications from abroad and not in person, I am not aware of. You will definitely need to send in your documents through post, as the banks do require original signatures. It might help to have your passport copies and signatures certified by the Embassy in BKK in order to give the bank the security they need for their compliance department.

Exactly these were the options given to me by UBS in order to keep my accounts with them.

As a non-resident, you have to have at least CHF 10,000 in an account with them and any credit cards you may have, go from being unsecured to "secured". All this for a CHF 30 monthly fee.

Of course I didn't feel this was good value for me so instead I bank with 2 Australian banks (I am also an Australian citizen) which not only give me far higher credit card limits than UBS gave me, but also none of this BS where you can only withdraw 40% of your available limit, can't transfer funds from your credit card to your savings account as a cash advance transaction, can only withdraw CHF 1,000 per day etc. Aussie banks allow you to withdraw 100% of your available credit, there is no daily transaction limit, online transfers of funds are allowed and are available instantly. Transaction accounts cost AUD 4 or 5 per month unless you receive at least AUD 1,000-2,000 a month in deposits from any source, in which case they become free of account keeping fees. Ditto for seniors, students, the disabled, war veterans and those under 18.

Of course UBS offered lower transaction fees (1.75% foreign currency transaction fee, previously 1% until recently whereas Aussie banks charge up to 3%) no daily cash advance debit interest fees (or at least I can't remember them ever being charged to my account) and the interest rate on purchases is capped at no more than 15% compared to up to 21.74% with my Aussie banks but that's a small price to pay for added convenience. However, that advantage was wiped out whenever I had to spend AUD 20 to transfer funds to my UBS transaction account to pay off my credit card there.