In an interview published in the NZZ am Sonntag on Sunday, price watchdog Stefan Meierhans said he receives dozens of complaints about excessive bank charges. On further scrutiny he found that many banking institutions had increased their prices further since the last survey in 2015.
Meierhans cited the vested benefits account as an example. In the survey seven years ago, such accounts were free. Today, every third bank charges an annual fee of CHF36. In addition, fees are charged for account management, payment orders, bank cards or foreign currency transactions.
He was especially critical of the of the policy of charging fees for closing an account and transferring a deposit to another bank. Disproportionate fees could make it more difficult to switch to a cheaper provider. This would prevent a market from functioning and violate competition law.
The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) has written to the banks on the initiative of the price watchdog. In the letter, Seco calls for a reduction or elimination of fees when changing banks. So far, the banks have not heeded this warning and Meierhans want further regulatory action.
According to a study by the auditing firm PwC, Swiss bank clients are by far the most accommodating in the world. Financial institutions earn an average of CHF550 francs per year per client. In the UK, the figure is only CHF140.
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