Swiss Bank Account for Swiss Citizen Living in Canada

Hi there,

Some Swiss banks do offer fully-online account opening, but the use of this service is generally limited to residents of Switzerland. In order to open a Swiss bank account you will normally have to visit a branch in Switzerland in person, although some banks let you open accounts by postal mail - in which case a certified copy of your passport is required.

Opening a Swiss bank account as a non-resident Swiss citizen

Swiss banks have become increasingly reluctant to take on new customers that reside outside of Switzerland. Some will only open accounts for foreigners who are able to meet certain criteria - such as large minimum deposits or the use of wealth management services. Many will not open accounts for Swiss residing in Canada at all.

However, there are Swiss banks (specifically cantonal banks) which will open private accounts (checking accounts) or savings accounts for non-resident Swiss citizens who are willing to grant a power of attorney over their account to a resident (a trusted relative or friend living in Switzerland) and provide that resident's Swiss address when opening the account.

Most Swiss banks now offer online banking services and give you the option of receiving all communications through online banking. You must specifically request that no communications be sent by postal mail. This will save you money (many banks charge fees for paper statements) and insure that the person who holds the power of attorney will not receive your sensitive banking information unless you want them to.

Non-resident fees

Almost all Swiss banks charge Swiss living abroad annual non-resident fees in addition to standard account fees. These fees can be substantial. You can find more informationand request a comparison of non-resident fees in the moneyland.ch guide to bank fees for non-resident customers.

Transfer costs

If you plan to transfer money from your Swiss bank account to a Canadian bank account, be aware of the transfer fees charged and the currency exchange rates used by Swiss banks when transferring money to foreign accounts. You may save money by using a wire transfer service or a peer-to-peer money transfer service.

Does opening a Swiss bank account make sense?

Unless you want to hold money in Switzerland in Swiss francs, opening and maintaining a Swiss bank account may not be worth the trouble and cost. When you transfer money from your Swiss account to your Canadian account, you will lose around the same amount of money as you would if the Swiss agency transferred the money from their Swiss account to your Canadian account.

One alternative is to ask the Swiss agency if they would be willing to transfer the money using a low-cost, peer-to-peer platform (Transferwise or Currencyfair, for example).

Best regards from Moneyguru

More on this topic:
Swiss private account comparison
Swiss savings account comparison

One option if you can't open a Swiss bank account is to use Transferwise or Revolut to receive money in Switzerland and transfer it to your Canadian account.

These prepaid accounts have collective Swiss bank accounts which you can receive money into. I don't know if government agencies would deposit into these accounts as the account is not in your name (the depositor has to add a reference so that it's credited to your prepaid account).

I recently used Revolut to transfer money to a friend in Canada and was pleased with the outcome. The whole transfer including currency exchange only cost a few francs, and the transfer took less than 2 days.