• Full internet banking access with no country restrictions
• Full Swiss bank secrecy
• Low minimum balance
• International credit and debit cards
• Multiple currencies accounts
• Branches all over Switzerland
• Mail retaining

The set-up fee for this account is 899.00 Swiss francs (equivalent to $742 or EUR 568 or £384). This one-time fee is fully refundable if the bank rejects your application.

This account is opened with an 80-year-old Swiss retail bank with branches in Zurich, Geneva, Lausanne, Bern, Basel and other locations in Switzerland.

The bank's majority shareholder is a Swiss cantonal bank owned by a Swiss canton. This indirect Swiss government shareholding has absolutely no bearing on Swiss bank secrecy, which applies fully. But it is always conforting to know that a bank has the backing of such a powerful and wealthy shareholder as a Swiss canton.

The bank's branches are located in modern buildings in the centre of Swiss cities. You will not have the red-carpet, marble and old leather feel of most Swiss banks but rather that of a regular high-street bank with simple, no-frills offices. Our clients are met in their account officer's private office in the upper floors.

The account officers dealing with our clients have all been personally interviewed by us and they provide good, reliable service, in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

The banks expects you to deposit no less than 5,000 Swiss francs (equivalent to $4,100 or EUR 3,200 or £2,100) within a month of opening the account and maintain this balance for as long as you keep the account.

You do not need to make a deposit the day you open the account although this is encouraged.

We have been able to negotiate this minimum balance policy for our clients, down from higher minimums. The bank's dream client deposits 25,000 Swiss francs (equivalent to $21,000 or EUR 16,000 or £11,000 ) or more and uses the account mainly for saving and investing. If you plan to deposit the minimum balance, spend any additional funds with a credit card, call your banker fifty times a day and not make an investment in your life, this is not the account for you.

US clients (either live in the US or US citizens) can now open this account but only if you choose to report the account in the US by way of a W9 form

This account can be opened in person or by mail.

To open by mail, you need to fill out an application on this site and pay the account set up fee. The procedure takes about 10 days and we will need to mail you contracts which you need to send back signed along with the other documents explained below. More ...

To open in person, you need to take an appointment with us in Switzerland, Monday to Friday and come with the documents explained below. We will go together to the bank and open the account in approximately 1 to 3 hours. More ...

The documents needed to open an account (by mail or in person) are your passport, a utility bill and documents about the economic origin of the money you intend to deposit. If opening by mail, you will need to authenticate a photocopy of your passport according to our instructions.

If your deposits exceed 500,000 Swiss Francs (equivalent to $413,000 or EUR 316,000 or £214,000) you need to come personnally to the bank at least one time within the first 6 months of opening your account.

Powerful online banking system that allows you to:

• Read your account statements online
• Make bank transfers worldwide
• Send and receive encrypted messages to your account officer in Switzerland

Security trough military-grade encryption with two passwords. Available in French, German, Italian. System is already accessible in English for 90% of the functions. No country restrictions.

Available for 200 Swiss francs a year (equivalent to $165 or EUR 126 or £85).

The bank can hold all mail and not send you anything unless you specifically request it. You can either pick up your statement in Switzerland or ask them to be mailed anywere you like in bulk, for instance once a year.

The account officers offer good quality, solid financial advice with an eye on the long term interest of the client rather than trying to push the bank's own products. We like the way this bank goes about advising its clients on investments.

Extensive investment services with mutual funds, bonds and stocks in all major currencies. The bank has access to the large investment fund offer used by all Swiss cantonal banks (not applicable to US clients).

You can also buy and sell bonds and shares directly from your account by talking to your bank manager (not a separate broker). Commissions for Swiss equities from 0.42% to 1.1%, for US, European and Canadian stock market 0.9% to 1.8%. The larger the order the smaller the commission.

Outgoing international bank transfers cost 4 Swiss francs each (equivalent to $3.30 or EUR 2.53 or £1.71) if ordered online.

The bank does not issue checkbooks as we do not use cheques in Switzerland.

The bank does not charge for domestic or international incoming bank transfers.

Depositing international cheques cost 10 Swiss francs (equivalent to $8.25 or EUR 6.32 or £4.27) for the first cheque and 5 Swiss francs for each additional cheque in the same batch. Cheques are credited on your account only when they clear.

Annual account maintenance costs 0.5 Swiss Franc (equivalent to $0.41 or EUR 0.32 or £0.21) per entry on your account statement (additional costs if you have stock market investments).

These costs are indicative only and are subject to change by the bank.