• Opened with a very large, century old Swiss bank
• Powerful and easy-to-use online banking system
• Excellent investment services
• Branches all over Switzerland
• Very professional service

The set-up fee for this account is 1199.00 Swiss francs (equivalent to $1,100 or EUR 732 or £522). This one-time fee is fully refundable if the bank rejects your application.

This account is opened with a Swiss banking powerhouse, with over fifty thousand employees and operations all over the world. It is one of the largest banks in Switzerland and has branches everywhere in Switzerland. It has been in operations for more than 100 years.

You will get your own Swiss banker and his/her deputy. Bankers are all specialized by countries. They will be familiar with your country and fluent in English or and often also in your mother tongue.

The services offered by the bank are very comprehensive and so are the investments available. Money market funds, bond funds in every major currencies, custom-made equity portfolios, precious metals are all at your fingertips. The bank has a large investment research department at your service if you want to research your investments yourself.

All clients get attention and excellent services - not only very large clients. However, it should be clear that this bank specializes in clients, large and small, who will use the account to save and invest the money over the long run - not in current accounts. They understand that you need to start somewhere and will help you grow along the way.

When opening your account in person, you will meet with your Swiss banker and his deputy in a private meeting room. The deputy will replace your regular banker when the latter is on military service or on vacation. This clearly ensures a much better service than having to deal with a call center who deals with thousands of clients. You will not have to explain everything from the start to a stranger everytime you call.

If you need this account for long-term saving this is one of the best account you can get and one that you can use during your whole life and then pass on to your children. We have been offering this account to clients all over the world for many years and receive very positive feedback.

The bank expects you to deposit at least 25,000 Swiss francs (equivalent to $22,000 or EUR 15,000 or £11,000) within a few months if you live in: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guernsey, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, UK, Czech Republic, Hungary, Thailand, Slovenia, Malta, Cyprus, Singapore and Japan.

Clients who live in other countries and US citizens wherever they live are expected to deposit 250,000 Swiss francs (equivalent to $224,000 or EUR 153,000 or £109,000).

The minimum balance can be deposited within a few months of opening the account. All investments you do through your account (mutual funds, shares, bonds, gold) are included in the minimum balance calculation. You do not need to leave this amount in cash on the account and are welcome to invest it.

Please consider that the account is opened for savings and investment purposes and that this account is not meant to be used for regular money transfers and payments, even if you always maintain the minimum balance. More ...

This two-tiered policy reflects current views in the Swiss banking community about the costs of fulfilling due diligence requirements. The bank considers that it is simpler to verify a client's background in some countries, and harder and more expensive in some other countries. The bank has country-specialized desks for many 'special risks' countries, such as Russia, Ukraine, Indonesia, etc... to provide good service from Swiss bankers who are fully knowledgeable of each country's particularities so that client can deal with the bank efficiently and on the basis of mutual trust. If you are not sure which account will match your requirements please contact us and we will see what solutions we can offer you. If you have a few hundred thousand dollars from a clear origin you wish to deposit with a long term view, we can often find other Swiss banking solutions thatn those offered here. Contact us.

The account can be opened by mail or in person if you who live in: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guernsey, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, UK, Czech Republic, Hungary, Thailand, Slovenia, Malta, Cyprus, Singapore and Japan.

Clients who live in other countries must come personnally to Switzerland to open their account. In most cases we can expedite the opening in person within 3 hours. May we add that most clients find the trip to Switzerland very pleasant in itself.

This account comes with one of the best online banking systems in Switzerland. You can access it from anywhere in the world 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with a standard web browser. The system is very easy to use and has many powerful features:

Security is ensured by military-grade encryption. You will receive a special device that looks like a pocket calculator. The device is very easy to use and James Bond like. It generates a special code needed to access your account, each session uses a different code. This is the most advanced system of its kind we have seen in a Swiss bank.

The system is packed with powerful features:

• Check account statements online
• Transfer funds to any bank account in the world
• Send and receive encrypted messages to/from your account manager
• Access the bank's large investment research library
• Manage your investments and trade online. You will have a direct access to electronic markets such as the Nasdaq or the Swiss stock exchange and will be able to enter your orders for all other world markets.

There are some restrictions if you live in:

• Canada and UK: No online stock market orders.
• Spain and Japan: No online stock market orders and no bank transfers online.
• USA: You can only watch your account statements. Absolutely no instruction to invest or transfer money can be given by any means, including Internet, fax, phone or email, from the territory of the United States.

These restrictions are due to the bank's policies and depend on where you live, not on your citizenship. If you need a service not available in your country, please contact us to see if there are alternatives. In any case you can always send your orders by fax (considering the restriction for US persons explained above).

You can ask the bank to keep all bank mail for 200 Swiss francs a year (equivalent to $179, EUR 122 or £87). To read your mail, you can either ask the bank to send it to a specific address several times a year, or come and read it in person.

Mail retaining is mandatory for US clients - the bank will not contact you nor accept any instructions sent by you from the territory of the United States.

The bank can issue you international credit and ATM cards you can use all over the world to pay in restaurants and shops or to withdraw cash at ATMs.

Mastercard and Visa credit cards available in Swiss Francs, US dollars and Euros, with or without the bank logo. Each withdrawal at an ATM cost a flat fee of 5 Swiss francs (equivalent to $4.47 or EUR 3.05 or £2.18).

The bank will issue credit cards only when your account balance reaches 100,000 Swiss francs (equivalent to $89,000 or EUR 61,000 or £44,000) and you will need a security of at least one time the monthly credit limit.

International ATM cards are also available with a maximum withdrawal of 1,000 Swiss francs per day (equivalent to $895 or EUR 610 or £436) and 5,000 Swiss francs per month (equivalent to $4,500 or EUR 3,100 or £2,200). These cards work anywhere you see the EC Maestro logo (several hundred thousands distributors all over the world). Withdrawals cost 5 Swiss francs per withdrawal (equivalent to $4.47 or EUR 3.05 or £2.18). There is no security required to get this card and no extra minimum balance requirement.

This account offers a very large selection of secure, well diversified investments in all major currencies. You can manage your investments in three different ways:

• With the help of your Swiss banker, you can invest your funds in simple, safe and easy to understand investment products.
• Discretionary mandate: In this case, your funds will be invested by a highly skill Swiss banker who spends his entire life managing assets on the behalf of clients according to tailor-made specifications you set. This service is available for accounts balance of 250,000 Swiss francs and up (equivalent to $224,000 or EUR 153,000 or £109,000).
• You can manage your investments yourself through the internet access.

Here are a few categories of investments available within the three opions:

Monetary investments - these are the most secure short to medium term investments available. The bank offers a great variety of fiduciary deposits and runs its own money market funds in Swiss francs, US, Canadian and Australian dollars, British pounds and euros.

Bonds - these are conservative, medium to long-term investments. The bank has its own bond funds in Swiss francs, US, Canadian and Australian dollars, Euros and Sterling, well diversified and with different maturities. This gives you an efficient way to diversify your bond holdings even with a small investment so as not to put all your eggs in the same basket. You can also invest directly in any bond traded publicly anywhere in the world.

Stocks - You can buy shares of companies all over the world. Your name will not appear anywhere - the bank will buy everything under its own name. Any stock market in the world is accessible directly through your account. Electronic markets such as Virt-x, Nasdaq or NYSE can also be accessed directly through online banking without even speaking to your account manager.

Gold &  Precious Metals - invest in Gold, Silver, Platinum, Palladium and other precious metals directly from your account. You can buy gold bars and store them for example in a safe deposit box in the bank, or buy gold. For more convenience you can also have a metal account and buy precious metals by the ounce, like you would buy equities. Finally you can buy shares of gold mines and even precious metal futures and options. Switzerland is the biggest market for banking gold in the world.

Structured products - Complex investment products are also available for advanced investors, including futures and other derivatives as well as stock participation programs with guaranteed minimum returns and a share of the stock investment return. There are few other Swiss banks with such a rich offer of investments.

US persons (US passport holders, even if they hold another passport, US taxpayer and green card holders) are unfortunately restricted to investing in term deposits and precious metals (gold, silver, platinum, palladium, etc...)

The basic account maintenance fee is 36 Swiss francs a year (equivalent to $32 or EUR 22 or £16).

Incoming international bank transfers are free of charge. You can send money to any bank in the world by bank transfer for 5 Swiss francs (equivalent to $4.47 or EUR 3.05 or £2.18) + the costs charged by the receiving bank.