Where shall I open an account to receive 40k Euro and/or +50k CAD with 0/low banking fees?

Banks, Insurances & Third Pillar
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Morning, I live in Switzerland and will receive either 40k Euro and/or +50k Canadian dollars.

I just wish to have the cheapest banking fee to receive/maintain, and withdraw (when I want to invest this amount).

Several years ago, I had a UBS Euro account, at that moment, other than the transfer banking fee, they will take 1% when I receive the money and another 1% when I withdraw them without offering any particular service. and I don’t want to pay 2% just to keep my liquidity.

Anyone recommends a good alternative? Thanks a lot

Do you think it’s better for me to open with Yuh or N26?

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Revolut?
IB?
Swissquote?

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Thanks. I don’t want to invest in anything yet. My mind is probably outdated and haven’t followed the latest evolution in the banking sector. I thought IB and Swissquote are stock broker? Do people open account with them just to deposit and keep their cash?

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You can receive these funds converted to CHF very easily for less than 0.5% fees.

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With Euro it is easy, any reasonable offer like YUH will do.

With CAD - wise multicurrency account?

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No, but it is extremely good for convering large amounts of foreign currency. And if you want to directly invest this cash, it makes things even easier.

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Thanks SF but I don’t want to convert them to CHF, I already having enough CHF in cash and IF I convert in CHF and later buy US stocks, it will get converted twice EUR–CHF–USD, which seems not making sense.

Thanks a lot, sorry I still have a few questions. Would be happy to invite you for a drink in Zurich, Basel, Bern or Luzern :slight_smile:
I just learnt from you YuH, for my purpose is it better with 1. YuH, 2. Private account in EUR with PostFinance or 3. neon? I don’t know how safe my money is with these online bank if they go bankrupt. At least PostFinance is probably supported by the Swiss government and too big to fail?

Do you mean I can open account with Interactive Brokers and receive my Euros for example? Will it stay in Euro before I make any trade or it is instantly convrert to USD? I may hold the cash for months without making any trade.

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Interactive Brokers. You can receive the Euros for free, keep them there, convert them whenever you want at almost zero spread and even set limit orders for the Fx rate you want, and one transfer out to another bank per month free

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Neon doesn’t offer foreign currency accounts. CHF only.

Yes.

Opening up an IBKR account only for holding cash is quite a lot of paperwork though.

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I thought IBKR can only be fed from accounts held in your own name?

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I believe that transfers to/from brokerage accounts like IBKR are not supported by Wise’s acceptable use policy.

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Yuh is free, all EUR payments in and out are free, I do it all the time. And your funds are with regulated Swissquote bank and therefore protected in case of SQ bankruptcy.

If you already have a Postfinance account, sure, go for a EUR account with them. But I wouldn’t open an account with them and pay just for a EUR account.

Another option is a EU bank, such as DKB, by the way.

Not from someone else.

Yes.

That’s correct.

I meant for receiving and converting CAD.

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I never heard about but never tried it either.

I Just searched their website and found the following which suggests it doesn’t have to be from an account In your own name in all cases: “To have your paycheck, pension, government agency or other recurring payment deposited into your account, provide your routing (ABA) number and account number to your employer, government agency, or third party.”

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I am 99.9% sure it applies to US residents only.

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I’d go for Revolut. PostFinance will be too expensive. Interactive Brokers will only accept the money from bank accounts in your name.

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Thanks Dr. I have a learnt a lot from you :slight_smile: 1. Will I be taxed in Switzerland when I receive this Euro amount FROM PARENT LIVING ABROAD on my future Yuh account? roughly what % if so?
2. someone has mentioned to open a Wise account, is it good for my purpose?

No I only have a UBS CHF account. I thought it would be for free with PostFinance when I check their website , so is this again some free-card-but-not-free-service/banking fee trick? :sweat_smile:

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Could this be a good choice for me? I have Swiss C permit but don’t hold a EU passport.

Thanks, so opening a Revolut account and it allows me to receive Euro from OTHER PEOPLE? I have some colleagues who use Revolut card but they are not confident to put their savings there :slight_smile:

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I wouldn’t either.

Re. Wise - it’s good for IBAN-2-IBAN forex, e.g. if you’d want them to send EUR/CAD and you receive CHF.
Not really for your purpose as you wish to maintain EUR/CAD (although I advise you to question that need).
You can I believe also “keep cash” there as on Revolut. But again - I wouldn’t (long term).

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Yes, you’ll get a European IBAN from the UK under your name.

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You might be taxed for receiving money presents from another people. “Depends on the Canton”. Money received from the parents are usually tax-exempt up to certain amount. So might make sense to split the transfer over few years. It means you should hurry if you still want to transfer something in 2021.

To convert CAD to EUR or CHF without much hassle- probably.

Bank package is 5 CHF per month.

And I agree with them. It is not a bank and they seem to be known to block large transactions and start asking questions. I use it for FX conversion only: CHF in, Euro out and never more than 1k balance.

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Doesn’t matter. DKB is completely free, but is all in German, for example.

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