Leaving Switzerland to Spain

Hello!
I am not Swiss nor EU but have lived and worked in Switzerland for over 20 years. I have been a UBS client for all that time with assets in UBS.

One month ago, my company relocated me to its Spain office. So, I now have Spanish residency and lost my Swiss residency.

I announced my move to UBS and told them I wanted to leave my assets in UBS as-is because I intend to retire in Switzerland in a few year time.

Today, my UBS client advisor informed me that UBS does not want to hold my assets unless I invest 50% of my assets in their Wealth Management products which I don't want to. She said with the negative interest rate, UBS doesn't want to hold cash savings. She said I have 2 months to close my UBS account and move my assets. I am now in a bind.

I can try to move my assets to Spain but as I am returning to Switzerland in a few years to retire, I prefer my assets remain in Switzerland.

Can anybody advise what options I have in light of this urgent situation?

Thank you!

Hi there,

Each bank has its own policy governing former-residents and non-residents. The vast majority of Swiss banks charge additional non-resident fee to customers residing outside of Switzerland.

As a general rule, you can keep vested benefits accounts and pillar 3a retirement accounts, and most banks do not charge non-resident fees if you only hold these accounts. Some banks, such as PostFinance and Credit Suisse (for its Interest Growth Savings Account), do not charge non-resident fees for savings accounts. Some cantonal banks do not charge non-resident fees if you hold a certain amount (50,000 francs or 100,000 francs) of total assets at the bank. You can request a free comparison of non-resident fees and exceptions at all major Swiss banks at the foot of this article.

Stock brokers are generally more open to accepting non-resident customers. These may provide an alternative if you want to keep your money in Swiss francs in a Swiss bank. Stock brokers typically charge inactivity fees if you do not place a certain amount of trades within certain time frames. Because of this, holding money this way only makes sense if you are willing to make some kind of trade at least occasionally. It is also good to note that brokerage accounts are generally not well suited to making frequent withdrawals or transactions to other accounts. You can use the stock broker comparison to compare Swiss brokers.

If you are willing to invest your money in a foreign bank but want to keep your money in Swiss francs, you could consider opening a CHF-denominated account at a bank in an EU country.

Best regards from Moneyguru

Hello again!

Many thanks for your reply.

I would prefer to keep Swiss Franc in a Swiss bank as I might return to CH and don't want to incur another funds transfer.

At this stage, I am not too concerned about Foreign Residents fee if you know of a bank that does not act like a bully to force me to invest in their wealth products as a condition of keeping my funds with them. Is PostFinance a possible option if I am willing to pay per-account foreign resident fees?

Thank you.

Postfinance lets you keep your account as long as you receive a salary or pension from Switzerland. Will you receive some kind of income from a Swiss source while you are away?

You don't pay fees for a savings account, and you can withdraw up to 100k per year, maximum 10 withdrawals. You can withdraw more times, but you pay a few francs for additional withdrawals. Still works out cheaper than paying the foreign customer fees for a current account. Plus you get a bit of interest.

joeysteele wrote on July 31, 2019

Postfinance lets you keep your account as long as you receive a salary or pension from Switzerland. Will you receive some kind of income from a Swiss source while you are away?

You don't pay fees for a savings account, and you can withdraw up to 100k per year, maximum 10 withdrawals. You can withdraw more times, but you pay a few francs for additional withdrawals. Still works out cheaper than paying the foreign customer fees for a current account. Plus you get a bit of interest.

Thank you @joeyseele. I have made an appointment to meet with PostFinance to explore the posisbility.