Well, if IB and others will really stop offering US ETFs to people domiciled in Switzerland, then the question remains if we should keep whatever we have in the US, or just sell it all and buy the Europeans ETFs.
If this terrible scenario really plays out, then I guess I will just buy the VWRL from that point. Then you could start asking yourself: should I keep my IB account, convert the CHF to USD and buy the USD variant of VWRL which is traded on LSE, or maybe just go with PostFinance or SwissQuote and buy the CHF one.
To look on the bright side, it would make life a bit easier:
- I personally own a PostFinance account, so having my ETF there would be convenient
- No more worries about the US Estate Tax
- I could easily transfer money within the same bank
- I would not have to bother with currency conversions
- No need to bother with DA-1 and reclaiming withholding tax (not possible)
That being said, all the advantages of US ETF would go away:
- lower TER
- lower spread
- lower fees of US stock exchange
- possibility to reclaim withholding tax
All that could possibly mean 0.5% lower return per year, which is of course A LOT, especially when you compound it over 30 years…