The fee checklist
Compare: monthly account fee, debit card fee, foreign payment/FX markup, ATM withdrawals (domestic and abroad), paper statements. The 'free' account with a 1.5–2% FX markup can beat a CHF 10 account only if you never leave the country.
Non-residents and cross-border
Accounts for non-residents often cost CHF 20–40+ per month or require significant balances – a major consideration when moving to or from Switzerland.
Fees are a budget category too
Bank and card fees are classic invisible spending – track them for a quarter and you'll know if switching pays.
Track these costs in your own budget: create your free Swiss budget in BudgetHub – in English, with Swiss categories built in.
What opening an account actually requires
For residents: identification, proof of address and, for most banks, a residence permit. Opening is usually possible from the first weeks of residence, and a Swiss IBAN is practically required for salary payment.
For non-residents the picture differs sharply: many banks decline or apply minimum balances and higher fees, because compliance costs for cross-border clients are substantial. This is a business decision rather than a legal restriction.
Students and young adults benefit from free accounts at most institutions up to a defined age, and these are among the few genuinely fee-free offers in Swiss retail banking.
The recurring charges, itemised
Account maintenance, card fees per card, statement or paper fees where physical documents are requested, and charges for cash withdrawals at third-party machines. Many are waived on conditions – salary deposit, minimum balance, age – and the conditions change.
Currency conversion sits outside this list and typically exceeds it for anyone with foreign spending. Card payments abroad and international transfers carry spreads that are not shown as fees at all.
Closing an account can also carry a fee, and dormant accounts continue to accumulate maintenance charges. Closing rather than abandoning an unused account is the cleaner exit.
Reducing what you pay
Consolidate: several half-used accounts each carrying maintenance fees cost more than one used properly, and dormant accounts are the single most common finding in an annual review.
Meet the waiver conditions deliberately – salary deposit and minimum balance are usually within reach and remove the base fee entirely.
Move foreign-currency activity to a provider built for it. This one change typically saves more than every other banking optimisation combined for households that travel or hold obligations abroad.