Your situation: what to clarify before choosing a private banker

Who is this page for?

It is for people who live in Switzerland, Swiss nationals and expatriates alike, and for families preparing to move here, when they have a substantial sum to entrust or soon will. Usually an event comes first: a business sold, an inheritance, retirement with a lump sum from the second pillar, the sale of a property, a move from another country.

We wrote it primarily for readers with more than one million Swiss francs of financial assets. This figure is an editorial guide. It is not a condition for approaching a bank or for using the simulator, and each institution sets its own criteria for taking on new clients, as our guide to the minimum amount for a Swiss private bank explains.

Why start from your situation rather than a bank's name?

Two million francs from the sale of a company and two million inherited do not raise the same questions. When the money will be available, who takes part in the decisions, which documents the institution will ask for and what you will need over the coming years all vary from one situation to another. These factors, more than the institution's name, tell you whether a banker suits you.

Swiss anti-money laundering law also requires banks to ascertain the nature and purpose of the business relationship you wish to open (art. 6 AMLA). When the relationship is opened, expect to explain what the funds are for and where they come from, so it is worth preparing.

After selling a business

The price in the sale agreement is not always what you receive on the day of signing. Part of it may be held back on an escrow account, paid later depending on the company's results, or lent to the buyer. The tax on the transaction is worked out with your tax adviser, and it can change both the amount available and the timing.

When choosing a banker, look first at their experience of life after a sale: your income changes, so does your diary, and your personal needs will have to be kept apart from any new ventures. Ask too how they work with the fiduciary, lawyer or tax adviser who supported you through the sale.

Our guide on what to do after selling your business covers these points in detail.

After an inheritance

Between the death and the moment you can dispose of the assets, several steps follow one another: inventory, proof of who the heirs are, division of the estate. Until they are complete, the deceased's accounts can generally only be operated on the instructions of all the heirs or of the executor. This period leaves time to prepare what comes next; nothing obliges you to take investment decisions during it.

With a banker, the questions then concern sharing with any other heirs, whether to keep the deceased's banking relationships, and how this capital adds to what you already own. The tax questions of the estate are dealt with by the notary or a tax adviser. If the deceased lived in, or held assets in, another country, ask your notary early which steps apply there.

Our guide to an inheritance in Switzerland goes through these steps in detail.

With a pension lump sum already withdrawn

This section is about occupational pension capital (second pillar, BVG/LPP) already paid into your account. Choosing between an annuity and a lump sum is a separate decision: it depends on your pension fund's regulations and on your family and tax situation, it is prepared with your pension fund and a pensions specialist, and we do not cover it here.

Once paid out, this capital becomes part of your private wealth and often supplements the AHV/AVS old-age pension for many years. Before meeting a banker, it helps to know your monthly spending, the income that already covers it, the cash reserve you wish to keep and your plans, such as helping your children or buying a home. Your banker should be able to explain how they organise regular withdrawals, and how they review things with you when your situation changes.

For more, see our guide pension lump sum: choosing who looks after it.

After selling a property

What comes back to you is the sale price, less the repayment of the mortgage and, where applicable, the taxes due on the sale. What you plan to do with the money shapes the conversation with a banker. If a new purchase is planned within a few months, the horizon is short and keeping the funds available comes first. If the sum is free for the long term, for example after selling the family home, the discussion turns to your needs in the years ahead.

Expatriates living in Switzerland and new arrivals

If you hold a foreign nationality and live in Switzerland, or are moving here, the language of the relationship matters in writing as much as in conversation: statements, contracts, everyday exchanges. List what remains in your previous country, whether accounts, securities, a property or pension assets, and ask the banker whether they look after other clients in a comparable position.

Swiss institutions apply the automatic exchange of information on financial accounts (AEOI). When opening a relationship, expect to declare your country or countries of tax residence. Two situations are best raised in the first conversation, so that you know whether and how the institution can take you on:

• you are a ‘US person’, for example a US citizen (dual nationals included), a green card holder or a US tax resident: Switzerland applies the FATCA agreement, under which Swiss financial institutions report their US clients' account data to the US tax authority, with those clients' consent. Each institution decides whether, and on what terms, it takes on these clients. The AlpineCompare questionnaire asks the question, and only bankers who state that they take on these clients are then presented to you;
• you or someone close to you holds or has held a prominent public function: when that function is exercised abroad, Swiss law treats the relationship as carrying a higher risk in every case (art. 6 para. 3 AMLA), and the bank must then clarify its background and purpose.

This section concerns people domiciled in Switzerland or preparing to move here, not those who live permanently abroad. Our guide to private banking for expats in Switzerland sets out the documents and the timetable.

CHF 1 million to invest: who can look after it?

Sometimes no recent event explains the question. Savings have built up over the years, or your current relationship no longer meets your expectations. How to invest a million calls for a personal answer that only a professional who knows your situation can give. The question you can prepare yourself is about who you work with: a bank or an independent asset manager, a discretionary or an advisory mandate, one institution or several, meetings in person or remotely.

Our guide on choosing a wealth manager in Switzerland goes through these choices. To compare the two relationship models, see also private bank or independent asset manager; if you are thinking of leaving your current bank, our guide to changing private bank describes the steps.

What should you prepare before a first meeting?

Whatever your situation, these points make a first conversation more concrete:

• the amount actually available, and the date from which it will be;
• the documents that trace the origin of the funds, for example the sale agreement, the certificate of inheritance, the pension fund's payment confirmation or the notarised deed of sale, with a translation if your banker will need one;
• your short-term cash needs: taxes to pay, a planned purchase, help for a relative;
• how long you expect not to need this sum, if you already know;
• the language you wish to use, and how often you want to meet;
• the specialists already working with you: tax adviser, notary, lawyer or fiduciary, in Switzerland or abroad;
• your current banking relationships and what you intend to do with them.

The AlpineCompare simulator asks about several of these points: your project, the amount involved, where you live, your language and what you expect from a banker.

Then choosing your private banker

Once your situation is clear, the choice concerns the person who will look after you as much as the institution. Our guide on how to choose a wealth manager in Switzerland sets out the criteria and the questions to ask at a first meeting. The page on Swiss private banks presents the types of institution and our city pages.

How AlpineCompare puts you in touch

AlpineCompare is an introduction service. It is not a bank, a wealth manager, a trustee or a client adviser; it manages no assets and offers no financial instruments.

After the simulator and the verification of your phone number, 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.

• 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.