The Biggest Swiss Banks

According to the Swiss National Bank (SNB), the balance sheets of all banks in Switzerland combined totaled a substantial 3600 billion Swiss francs at the end of 2022.

Which are the biggest banking groups in Switzerland?

The Swiss National Bank sorts banks into different categories. The following table shows the combined balance sheets across banks in each category at the end 2022:

The two big banks UBS and Credit Suisse together are around twice as big, in terms of balance sheets, as all banks in the second-largest group (cantonal banks). Since the data above was published, UBS has acquired Credit Suisse, making it the only remaining Swiss bank in the big bank category. So the big banks category in the table above provides an indication of how big the new UBS is.

Which are the biggest Swiss banks?

The biggest Swiss bank, as per the end of 2022, is UBS, with balance sheets worth 1104 billion US dollars, or 1021 billion Swiss francs. Credit Suisse, which has since been acquired by UBS, takes second place, with 531 billion francs. The Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) is the third-largest Swiss bank, with balance sheets worth 200 billion francs.

Other large Swiss banks that serve individuals are Postfinance (114 billion francs), the Banque Cantonale Vaudoise (59 billion francs), and Migros Bank (57 billion francs).

Raiffeisen banks are a group of 200 different, independent, banking cooperatives. The biggest Swiss Raiffeisen bank is headquartered in Sion in the canton of Valais. It has a balance sheet of 4.1 billion francs. All Swiss Raiffeisen banks together have combined balance sheets of nearly 281 billion francs.

Swiss banks provide more than 100,000 jobs

At the end of 2022, Swiss banks employed around 109,000 people. Of these, around 17,000 are employed outside of Switzerland. The big banks employ the most people, with nearly 36,000 employees. They are followed by cantonal banks with around 18,000 employees, stock exchange banks with 17,000 employees, foreign-controlled banks with 15,000 employees, and Raiffeisen banks with nearly 10,000 employees.

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Swiss investment and retirement comparison
Swiss mortgage and loan comparisons