Swiss Bank Account

marcodigio

Hi...my first post on martin website.
I am not resident in uk and travel quite alot. I have a property to sell in the uk and thought that a swiss bank account would work quite well for me. It's possible to hold 3 different type of currencies with no extra charges and you can access money anywhere in the world.
The problem is that i don't know any reputable swiss bank.
Anyone had experience with them? Can you recommend one to me?
I had a search with google but most of them look like scams to me!
Thanks for your help!

marco new moneysaver

Gabriel-Ernest

They will only take high net worth individuals, so they won't look at you unless you can deposit and maintain a balance of a certain amount - I would imagine above £500k or similar. I've got no experience of them, but obvious names would be UBS (Union Bank of Switzerland), Julius Baer, any of the major investment banks (Deutsche, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Credit Suisse) which have a private banking arm.

Be aware that the personal checks they will want to do will be quite stringent - gone are the days when they took anything. As they are now subject to FATF regulation, Switzerland will comply with international standards on client uptake; they will be looking to confirm your identity, address and the source of the money. I have no idea what rates of interest they would pay.

marcodigio

Hi...I appreciate your reply.
According to this website http://www.finance-superstores.co.uk/da/41865
anyone can open a swiss account paying a fee of £ 245.
It seems a reputable site to me, but i'm very very sceptical giving money and all my details to an internet company.
Do you think a professional financial advisor could help in finding out if the above is a genuine institution?
Anyway Happy New Year!!!

marco

Gabriel-Ernest

I don't click on unknown links so I can't comment, but have a look for their client opening or anti-moneylaundering provisions; if there are none, avoid them like the plague. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

If you tell me the legal name of the entity you're considering, I can check for you if it's regulated in Switzerland or not. If you ask an IFA, they'll no doubt charge you for the privilege of checking them out.

Gabriel-Ernest

Okay, I did have a look at the site and have the following comments:

1. They ask for a fee before sending you the application papers.
2. There is no way to contact them except via the online forms.
3. The head company is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands and operates out of Chicago. If they were genuine, they would give details of which US regulator authorises their activity within the US.

I therefore conclude that it's a scam and would strongly advise that you don't go near it. They'd take your £245 and you'd never get it back. I doubt there are any bank accounts there. It just looks like a typical multlayered scam to me.

marcodigio

Thanks for your help!
That is always true...if it sounds too good to be true then probably is!

Esoog

You dont click on unknown links? You must have quite a boring time on the internet then O.o Get a decent firewall/AV and you'll be fine O.o

bengal-stripe

That’s the web-page of the Association of Banks based in Basel, Switzerland.
http://www.bankenbasel.ch/startseite.html

I’m afraid, I only could find a German-language version, the site is obviously aimed at EU citizens to invest in Basel.
At ‘Die Basler Banken’ you find a list of all the banks with offices in Basel (international, national, local and private banks) with links to their individual web-sites.

All the institutes listed are proper banks.


Just found something else:
Directory of Swiss banks:
http://www.swconsult.ch/cgi-bin/banklist.pl

Gabriel-Ernest

Esoog wrote:

You dont click on unknown links? You must have quite a boring time on the internet then O.o Get a decent firewall/AV and you'll be fine O.o

Not when I suspect it's a con. And apologies to the OP, but I did wonder if this thread was an underhanded way of advertising a fake site But I figured it would be best if I did some digging and posted my conclusions in case someone got taken in by the entity in question.

Gabriel-Ernest

There are different regulators within Switzerland (mainly self-regulatory organisations for industries which 'police' themselves, so in practice they don't stand for much), but the only one which comes close to meeting the international standards of the Financial Action Task Force is the Swiss Federal Banking Commission:

http://www.ebk.admin.ch/e/

If you click on 'Authorised institutions' on the left, you can check out the banks, fund managers, investment managers etc. If whatever the entity is is on the list, you can be fairly confident that they're above board.

Switzerland has struggled hard in recent years to revamp its banking business because its corruption was so high. Since about 2001 the banking industry has changed quite a bit to tighten up its vulnerabilities to moneylaundering and financial crime, and consequently fraudsters are trying that much harder to do their stuff. It's still viewed with some suspicion in the international banking world though, in the same way that Russia is, even though Russia is technically considered to be FATF-equivalent. Lots of EU politics behind the admission of certain countries to the highest rank of regulatory confidence.

Smiley_Mum

I know of someone who has an account with Credit Suisse, the person isn't resident in the UK though.