Going back on topic, I expect nothing good from PF in the next years. They have raised fees in so many different ways in the past year. Every few months there is a new bombshell. Unfortunately, I cannot switch yet but I am definitely working on it.
thats why i cancelled all services with PF and moved to Neon/VIAC/IKBR & Coinbase Pro.
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The basic account is still free with 25k in the depot and iâm not using cash for over 1 year so nothing changes for me.
PF/Viac/Revolut
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Yeah, I donât know what kind of âbombshellâ there was. If you have at least 25k invested with them, nothing changed.
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I donât have anything invested with them. I have to cough up 12 francs per month or pay money in the off chance I need to use their debit card at a non-Postomat ATM. For instance, last year when I was in Italy, I was unable to use Revolut for whatever reason in one location and had to use my debit card to get money. Now, it would be a 5 chf transaction fee.
They have consistently revoked services and/or increased fees for over 3 years now. I mean they are in a tough spot I understand with negative interest rates and unable to do mortgages, but the trend is the same nonetheless.
I find it weird that some banking services are free at all. Free means someone else is paying and youre free riding. If Neon is enough for your needs, go with them. I think PF is still attractive as a one stop shop at still attractive prices. Definitely beats UBS and CS. I wonder why people stick with these. Who in their right mind keeps a brokerage account with these?
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They donât know better or they donât care about the price difference. On another note, the UBS family bank package is a pretty good offer for couples IMO.
Justification = Every other non-exotic CH broker does (Iâll call degiro exotic because it simply wonât be âtrustworthyâ enough for many many folk), so there simple is no reason not to charge CHF 200 for a CHF 50k trade.
Postfinance works together with Swissquote and theyâll protect their share of the cake together, until forced to reduce fees by a disruptor or major shift to âcheapâ foreign brokers.
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If that was true, then this screams for a newcomer. Like, if Neon implemented their own online trading for simple non-leveraged trades, even only on SIX, that would be huge. I also think things would get reshuffled if stamp duty was abandoned.
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Totally Agree with @Bojack They are unfortunately trying to obligate you to do everything with them (artificially increase âloyaltyâ)âŠbut as Iâm only using them for the easy access to trading until 100k or so, nothing changes for me. Never planned on using the maestro anyway. But I do get why it would be frustrating for anyone that doesnât want to have more than 25k invested and/or use for maestro without crazy costs. If they leave me alone (keep 90CHF custody account, and 25k minimum), Iâll stay for simplicity. If that changes, Iâll have to review again.
What are the costs involved if you wanted to shut down PF e-trading account and transfer your stocks to say InteractiveBrokers? Is that possible or do you have to sell everything first?
It costs 100 chf + Value added tax per position.
okay, not too bad if you only have VWRL.
Funny enough, in Sweden there is a movement (not sure how big) of people boycotting places that do not accept cash.
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With these small white bluetooth terminals that pair with your smartphone, or with TWINT, I donât see a reason not to support card payments alongside cash. Other than for the lack of knowledge or laziness of the business owner. I recently approached my Syrian coiffeur (only accepts cash) and showed him TWINT, he didnât even know it exists.
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TWINT is not free for a merchant (1,3% per transaction + terminal cost ?)
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âTerminalâ can just be a smartphone, at least thatâs how I paid a few times. And 1.3% fee. Well, would you forego 25 CHF income (a customer had no cash) because you had to pay 0.32 CHF?
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Twint using QR code is also supported for businesses
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You also have to take into account people who would want to use card since itâs available. Might or might not make sense but not necessarily straightforward 
(also wouldnât be surprised if some merchant are shifting a bit of revenue untaxed when using cash, donât know how prevalent that is in Switzerland though).
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Good point. Although they need to report some income to stay under the radar. You would laugh if you saw how blatant this practice is in Poland. My friend called a handyman to renovate his house and said he absolutely needs an invoice. Was willing to pay more, just to have it done legally and to have a paper trail. The handyman said that itâs not possible, because heâs on sick leave / disability benefit. And he was working while receiving it and not even hiding the fact during a phone call with a stranger. âThis is why we canât have nice thingsâ 
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