Choosing a private banker in Thun based on your situation

Choosing a private bank in Thun

Thun lies on Lake Thun, where the Swiss Plateau meets the Bernese Oberland. According to the City of Thun, the town has around 4,700 companies, and around 96 per cent of businesses are SMEs with fewer than 50 employees; Thun is also home to a training ground of the Swiss Armed Forces (information from the city and the armed forces, accessed on 20 October 2026). These points shed light on several situations in which you may look for a private banker in Thun: running or handing over a business, approaching retirement, or living in the Oberland and preferring to meet in Thun rather than in Bern.

This page is for people who live in Switzerland, in Thun or the surrounding region, including those of another nationality, and for people preparing to move to the canton of Bern. We wrote it primarily for available financial assets of more than one million Swiss francs. This figure is a guide, not an entry requirement: each institution sets its own criteria for taking on new clients. For an overview of the selection criteria, see our page on Swiss private banks.

Institutions with an office in Thun

The list below shows, in alphabetical order, the institutions in our database for which we have verified an office serving private clients in Thun. Being an AlpineCompare partner changes neither the order of the list nor whether an institution appears in it.

This list does not cover every institution active in Thun: it covers those in our database whose presence in Thun is published by the institution itself. The canton's cantonal bank, Berner Kantonalbank (BEKB), is one of them: founded in 1834, it is a public limited company whose majority shareholder is the canton of Bern, with 51.16% of the share capital. On its private banking page, it says that it serves clients by telephone and in person at more than 50 locations, and it names regional contacts, including a team for the Bernese Oberland (pages accessed on 21 October 2026). The information published on institutions is indicative and must be confirmed with the institution concerned.

For the Bernese Oberland, our database also records a private-client office in Gstaad. It does not appear here, because the list covers the town of Thun only.

What the Thun branch pages show

The list shows two institutions. The BEKB customer centre at Bahnhofstrasse 1 offers personal advice by appointment on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; its page does not list which private banking services are available there. The page of the UBS branch on Bälliz lists services for private clients, including investing and pensions, and for companies, with opening hours for the counter and for advice; it does not mention wealth management, unlike the page of the UBS branch in Köniz. We accessed the UBS pages on 20 October 2026 and the BEKB page on 21 October 2026.

A branch page does not describe every service an institution offers. The fact that these pages do not mention wealth management does not mean that the two institutions do not offer it to their clients in Thun. It does give you a useful question for your first conversation: would your relationship be looked after by someone at the Thun branch, or handed to a wealth management team based in another office, and where would you meet that person?

Thun, Bern and the Oberland: where will your meetings take place?

For a wider choice of institutions, our page on private banks in Bern lists those whose Bern office we have verified; the BEKB and UBS are among them. An office in Thun or in Bern does not yet tell you where you will meet your banker: they may be attached to another office, and some of your exchanges may take place remotely.

If you live in Thun and work in Bern, or live further into the Oberland, for example in Spiez, the Simmental or the Interlaken area, raise the question of where you will meet early on. Ask whether you can meet your banker in Thun, in Bern or remotely, and whether the same person looks after you in each case.

The official language in Thun is German (art. 6 of the constitution of the canton of Bern). The language of your banking relationship is agreed with the institution and with your banker: if you would like to work in English, say so at the first contact, and distinguish the language of your meetings from the language of the documents, meaning the account-opening agreement, statements, portfolio reports and correspondence.

Your situation in Thun, and what to clarify

For a few situations linked to the economy of the town and the region, here is what is worth clarifying in the first conversation. These are not recommendations: investment, pension and tax decisions are made with the relevant professionals.

What matters when choosing a banker in Thun

Here are the criteria to look at when choosing a private banker in Thun, and the question that lets you check each one in a first conversation.

These criteria match the questions of the AlpineCompare simulator: your project, the amount involved, your canton, your language and what you expect from your banker.

Different types of institution

In Thun, as elsewhere in Switzerland, a wealth management relationship can be held with a private bank, a universal bank, a cantonal bank or an independent asset manager. What distinguishes these models is explained on our page on types of institution and selection criteria.

If you are considering an independent asset manager, you can check that it appears on the list, published by FINMA, of portfolio managers licensed by FINMA and monitored by a supervisory organisation.

Preparing your first conversation

Before your meeting, you can gather:

• the amount you are thinking of entrusting and what it consists of: cash, securities already invested, pension capital already paid out, the proceeds of a sale;
• if you run a business, a clear view of what belongs to the company and what belongs to you personally;
• your timetable, for example the date of your retirement, of a handover or of a property sale;
• a list of your assets and accounts outside Switzerland, if you have any;
• where you would prefer to meet, in Thun, in Bern or remotely, and the language you wish to use, spoken and written;
• your questions on continuity if your banker is away or changes.

During the conversation, note each banker's answers on the same points: you can then compare several proposals on a common basis.

How AlpineCompare puts you in touch in Thun

AlpineCompare is an introduction service and has no office in Thun. The simulator asks you about your project, the amount involved, your canton of residence, your language and what you expect from your banker. Once your phone number is verified, you obtain a selection of private bankers from our partner institutions, with the option to be put in touch with one of them or to ask to be called back; nothing is passed to any partner until you have confirmed one of these two requests. A banker's direct contact details, where the banker provides them, are shown only after you have confirmed the introduction to that banker or asked that banker to call you back: this confirmation is your agreement to your request being passed to that banker and their institution, which receive it at that moment; AlpineCompare records this agreement and may rely on it with the institution to establish that the relationship arose through its introduction.

For each banker, the selection shows their institution, city and languages, so you can see whether a banker is based in Thun, in Bern or in another city, and whether they list English among their languages. If you send them a request, that banker and their institution may contact you; the arrangements for a meeting are then agreed with them.

• AlpineCompare is paid by the partner institution, under a business-introduction agreement, when a client it introduced signs a contract with that institution; the service is free for you.
• Only private bankers of partners can be presented to you; institutions without a partnership are described on the site in the same way as the others.
• Remuneration plays no part in the selection of the profiles shown or in their order.
• The selection depends on the partner bankers whose profile matches your request; it may include bankers based in other cities.