Transferring your savings from euros to francs into Switzerland: supporting documents, cost and timing of the conversion

A German couple arrives in Zurich with the proceeds from the sale of their flat in Freiburg im Breisgau, an Italian engineer who has settled in Lausanne wants to bring the ten years of savings she left in Milan over to Switzerland, a French manager posted to Geneva is unsure whether to convert 100,000 euros in one go. You are free to transfer your savings to Switzerland, but the operation raises three questions that people rarely ask before making the transfer: what the Swiss bank will ask when it sees a large sum arrive, how much the conversion into francs will really cost, and when to carry it out. This guide answers them on the basis of the legislation in force on 28 October 2026 and the history of the European Central Bank's reference rates.

1. Can you freely transfer your savings to Switzerland?

Yes: neither Switzerland nor the European Union restricts transfers made by an individual between their own accounts, and you have nothing to declare for a bank transfer. The Federal Act on Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Anti-Money Laundering Act, AMLA, SR 955.0, text in French) places its obligations on financial intermediaries: the Swiss bank or provider that receives your money must identify you, understand the purpose of the business relationship and clarify unusual transactions. On your side, there is no form to fill in.

Free does not mean free of questions. Both the Swiss bank and the bank the money leaves from may ask you to explain the transaction, and the Swiss bank may refuse funds whose origin it cannot establish. The preparation therefore takes place before the transfer, not after. Three situations also call for particular attention:

• Cash carried across the border, which must be declared on the European side and may be checked on the Swiss side (section 4).
• Your Swiss tax return, in which your savings appear as wealth, wherever they are held (section 8).
• The status of your European accounts: inform your bank of your new tax residence, since it reports your accounts to the country where you are resident (section 8).

2. What does the Swiss bank check when the money arrives?

It checks that the arrival of the money is consistent with what it knows about you: the law requires it to clarify an unusual transaction and, where the risk is higher, to establish in particular the economic background of large incoming payments and their plausibility. The criteria are set out in the FINMA Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance (AMLO-FINMA, SR 955.033.0, text in French), in the version in force on 28 October 2026.

When you open the account

Article 6 of the AMLA requires the intermediary to identify the nature and purpose of the business relationship. When you open an account on arriving in Switzerland, the bank will therefore ask you what you intend to deposit in it. Announcing the transfer of your savings at that stage, with its approximate amount and its origin, avoids a transfer of 150,000 euros landing in an account presented as a simple salary account. Among the criteria that point to a higher-risk business relationship, the ordinance lists the size of the assets deposited and the size of the inflows and outflows of funds (Art. 13(2)(e) and (f) AMLO-FINMA).

When the transfer arrives

Each intermediary sets its own detection criteria, but the ordinance lists the size of the inflows of funds and significant deviations from the type, volume or frequency of the account's usual transactions (Art. 14(2)). There is therefore no fixed amount below which a transfer goes through without questions: everything depends on your profile. When the transaction involves a higher risk, the intermediary must establish, depending on the circumstances (Art. 15(2)):

• the origin of the assets deposited;
• the economic background of large incoming payments and their plausibility;
• the origin of your wealth;
• your professional activity.

The law also specifies what the intermediary is trying to rule out: funds originating from a felony or an aggravated tax misdemeanour (Art. 6(2)(b) AMLA). That is why a bank may ask you, in addition to the origin of the money, for proof that it was declared to the tax authorities of your former country: a tax assessment is often enough.

If the clarifications do not dispel its doubts, the bank may refuse the funds, and it must inform the Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS) if its suspicions are well founded, without being allowed to tell you. Our guide on sending money to your family from Switzerland describes these mechanisms in the opposite direction.

3. Which supporting documents should you prepare, depending on where your savings come from?

The general rule: be able to show the complete chain, from the event that created the money to the account the transfer leaves from. Savings held in an account in your name for ten years can be explained with a few statements; a sum that arrived in that account recently requires the document that explains its arrival.

A few precautions avoid most of the back-and-forth:

• Transfer from an account in your name. In Switzerland as in the European Union, the rules on transfers require every transfer to pass on the name and account number of the payer to the receiving bank. A transfer from a third party's account, even a relative's, raises an additional question: who is the beneficial owner of the money?
• Keep legible, complete copies, with a translation if the document is not in a language the bank reads routinely.
• Notify the bank before the transfer, stating the amount, the planned date and the origin. A clarification that has been prepared is generally quicker; a clarification triggered by surprise can hold up the funds for longer.
• Do not try to split the amount to stay below a supposed threshold. The criteria target deviations from your usual pattern and transactions that are linked to one another: artificial splitting is itself a warning sign.

4. Why does cash make everything more complicated?

Carrying your savings in cash is legal, but it is the route that triggers the most checks and leaves the least evidence.

• When leaving the European Union, anyone carrying 10,000 euros or more in cash must declare it. Crossing the border from France, Germany, Italy or Austria means leaving the Union: the declaration is due on the European side.
• When entering Switzerland, there is no spontaneous declaration, but customs may ask you for your identity, the origin and intended use of the money and its beneficial owner from 10,000 francs, or below that amount if there is a suspicion (Art. 3 of the Ordinance on the Control of Cross-Border Cash Transfers, text in French). Refusing to give your identity or the amount carried, or providing incorrect information, is punishable by a fine of up to 5,000 francs (Art. 5 of the ordinance, which refers to Art. 127 of the Customs Act), and the money may be provisionally seized (Art. 4).
• At the bank, a physical deposit of more than 100,000 francs at the start of a business relationship, in one go or in stages, is in all cases treated as a higher-risk transaction (Art. 14(3)(a) AMLO-FINMA). This is the only figure for higher risk that the ordinance sets for a cash deposit at the start of a relationship.

Above all, banknotes have no history: where a transfer carries the trace of the originating account, cash forces you to reconstruct its origin with other documents. For savings already held in an account, a bank transfer remains the simplest route.

5. How should you organise the transfer, and in which currency?

Two decisions are taken separately: by which route the money leaves your European account, and at what moment it becomes francs. Mixing them up often means paying for the exchange in the worst place.

Transferring euros or francs

• Transfer euros to a euro account in Switzerland: Switzerland is part of the SEPA area, and a euro transfer to a Swiss IBAN is a SEPA transfer if both banks participate in the scheme. You then convert in Switzerland, at the moment you choose.
• Let your European bank convert into francs at departure: it is simple, but the rate applied is that bank's rate, on the day of the order, and it is rarely displayed next to the market rate.
• Use a currency exchange service that receives your euros and pays francs into your Swiss account: the conversion takes place when you trigger it, with a stated margin.

The practical details that hold up a transfer

• The online transfer limit of your European bank is often well below your savings. Ask for a temporary increase or a signed order at a branch before the planned date.
• The fees for a transfer to a country outside the Union depend on your bank: check its price list before placing the order.
• The beneficiary's name must match exactly that of the Swiss account, with the full IBAN. A discrepancy can cause the payment to be blocked or returned.
• Fixed-term investments: a term deposit, a life insurance policy or a statutory savings plan may require notice or charge exit penalties. Check them before setting your timetable.

If you also need francs straight away, for a rent guarantee for example, see our guide on funding a rent guarantee from abroad and our checklist for moving to Switzerland.

6. How much does the conversion cost, and where is the margin hidden?

On a large amount, transfer fees are marginal: what costs money is the gap between the rate you are given and the market rate. At the European Central Bank's reference rate of 28 October 2026, 1 euro was worth 0.9247 franc: 100,000 euros therefore represented 92,470 francs before any margin. Each tenth of a percentage point of margin costs about 92 francs on this amount.

Calculated at the ECB reference rate of 28 October 2026 (0.9247), excluding transfer fees.

The margin is rarely shown openly. To measure it, divide the francs received by the euros sent and compare the result with the reference rate of the same day: our guide on how to calculate an exchange rate explains the calculation in detail, and the day's rate can be followed on our CHF-EUR converter. Also ask for the rate in writing before placing the order: a rate advertised as "fee-free" can hide the widest margin.

7. Convert in one go or in instalments?

With substantial savings, the day of the conversion can weigh more than the margin: over the last twelve months, the gap between the best and the worst ECB reference rate represents 4,700 francs on 100,000 euros. The rate fell to 0.9008 on 9 March 2026 and rose to 0.9478 on 30 September 2026: 100,000 euros were worth 90,080 francs on the first date and 94,780 francs on the second. Nobody knows these dates in advance.

What five years of reference rates show

Using the ECB's daily reference rates from 28 October 2021 to 28 October 2026, we calculated what each strategy would have produced:

• Over one month, EUR/CHF moved by a median of 0.83%, or about 770 francs on 100,000 euros. The change exceeded 1% in 42% of cases and 2% in 12% of cases.
• Over five years, the euro lost 13% against the franc: 100,000 euros were worth 106,560 francs on 28 October 2021, compared with 92,470 francs on 28 October 2026.
• Immediate conversion versus six equal monthly instalments: because the euro mainly fell over the period, immediate conversion gave a better result in two cases out of three. The median gap between the two methods was 0.91%, and it exceeded 2.4% one time in ten.

These figures describe the past and say nothing about the direction of the coming months. They show that instalments did not improve the result over the period: they spread the risk over several dates, which avoids the worst day but also the best one.

The criteria that really matter

• The date on which you need the francs. A property purchase, a rent guarantee or a contribution due on a specific date cannot be played out over several months: the amount owed in francs is known, and the risk is being short of francs when the day comes. Savings with no particular purpose can be converted gradually.
• The interest rate differential. On 28 October 2026, the Swiss National Bank's policy rate is 0% and the ECB's deposit facility rate is 2.50%; savings in euros generally earn more than savings in francs. Holding euros for longer can therefore earn interest, but leaves you exposed to a fall in the euro.
• Your future expenses. If you continue to pay expenses in euros, a mortgage in your former country for example, keeping part of your savings in euros avoids a double conversion.

Our analysis of EUR/CHF, updated after each SNB and ECB decision, reviews the factors weighing on the rate. It is no substitute for advice tailored to your financial situation.

8. What does this transfer change for your taxes in Switzerland?

The transfer itself is not taxed: moving your own money from one account to another is not income. What matters is your residence. If you are resident in Switzerland, you have unlimited tax liability (Art. 6(1) DBG/LIFD for direct federal tax, a rule mirrored in the cantonal laws): it extends to your income and wealth abroad, with the exception of businesses, permanent establishments and real estate located outside Switzerland. The cantonal wealth tax is levied on total net wealth (Art. 13(1) StHG/LHID), and the interest on your accounts is taxable income (Art. 20(1)(a) DBG/LIFD).

Your savings must therefore appear in your Swiss tax return, whether they are still in a European account or have already been transferred. European accounts do not go unnoticed: under the agreement between Switzerland and the European Union on the automatic exchange of financial account information (SR 0.641.926.81, text in French), each member state sends Switzerland every year the name, address, tax identification number, account number and balance of the accounts held by Swiss residents, as well as the income paid into them (Art. 2). The mechanism works in both directions.

Our guide on wealth tax in Switzerland explains what must be declared for assets held abroad, the value used for a euro account and the scales canton by canton. In the year of your arrival, your former country may also tax you up to the date of your departure: settle your tax obligations there before considering the matter closed.

9. Key takeaways

Transferring your savings to Switzerland requires no declaration for a bank transfer, but the Swiss bank must understand where a large payment comes from. Announce the transfer when you open the account, prepare the documents that show the origin of the money, and transfer from an account in your name rather than carrying cash.

Three decisions remain yours: the route of the transfer, in euros or already converted; the exchange margin, which you measure by comparing the amount received with the reference rate of the day; and the timing of the conversion, which can weigh more than the margin on a large sum and which regular instalments allow you to spread. Then do not forget to declare your savings, wherever they are held, in your Swiss tax return.

10. Frequently asked questions