Best broker Switzerland 2025: 6 decisive factors you need to know

Best broker in Switzerland? Yes, it does exist! But it is not the same for everyone. The right choice of broker for your securities depends above all on your individual needs and expectations. In this article, we present six decisive factors when choosing a broker to help you find your personal favorite. In each case, we include a comparison of brokers in Switzerland with five leading providers that we have carefully tested beforehand.

Best Broker Switzerland: Be willing to compromise!

In one of our most popular articles “Best ETFs Switzerland and globally: And the Winner is…”, we gradually selected the top ETFs in various categories based on eight criteria. In this article, we now turn our attention to the platforms on which these and other securities can be traded. In contrast to ETFs, where we believe it is possible to determine the really best products according to rational, generally applicable criteria, the procedure for finding the best broker is more complex.

“ There is no such thing as the perfect broker. “

Because the perfect broker for everyone would offer the lowest prices, the widest range of securities, the best service and much more that your investor’s heart would desire. Unfortunately, however, there is no such “one broker”. Rather, all operators of trading platforms, regardless of whether they are domestic or foreign providers, are exposed to strong competition, which forces them to position themselves clearly on the market and differentiate themselves from their competitors.

For you as a Swiss investor, this means that you should know your needs in this regard when choosing a broker. So what is particularly important to me when it comes to managing my securities? But also: Where am I prepared to compromise?

So if, like Toni, you only want to invest in a handful of well-known “bread-and-butter” ETFs, for example, you don’t need a broker with a huge range of alternative niche products. Or if you want to pay (almost) no fees, you might accept longer waiting times for customer service and/or that your trusted “low-cost broker” lends your securities in order to open up an additional source of income that costs you nothing.

” A suitable platform can save you a lot of money and hassle! “

In the following, we will go through the six most relevant factors that you should know when choosing the right broker. To concretize this important topic – yes, a suitable platform can save you a lot of money and trouble! – we will repeatedly refer to five domestic and foreign providers of securities platforms that we have extensively tested and that are or are not particularly suitable for the relevant factor. This broker comparison Switzerland is based on the detailed reviews of the following providers: Swissquote | DEGIRO | Interactive Brokers | Yuh | neon

– Partner Offer –

Click on our recommendations below to go directly to the profiles of leading online brokers such as DEGIRO, Interactive Brokers and Swissquote as well as neobanks such as Yuh and neon, which – depending on your individual needs – have interesting offers including a starting bonus.

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And if you don’t want to deal with individual securities, but would rather build up an entire securities portfolio automatically, then you don’t need a broker at all, but a good robo-advisor.

In this article “Robo-Advisor Switzerland: 3 providers compared”, we have taken a closer look at three innovative Swiss providers. You can also find the most important facts & figures (incl. promotional codes with start-up bonuses) on our recommendations page.

Best Broker Switzerland Factor #1:
Fees and costs

This factor should not leave anyone indifferent. After all, every single franc you spend on fees etc. is deducted from your return. Below we have listed the most important costs that the broker can charge you:

Custody fees

This recurring fee in favor of the broker is incurred regardless of whether you trade or not. You pay it for the safekeeping and management of your ETFs and other securities. The prices often depend on the value of your portfolio, with certain providers setting lower and upper limits. For example, the leading Swiss online broker Swissquote charges 0.1% per year for a custody account, with a minimum of CHF 60 and a maximum of CHF 200. PostFinance, on the other hand, which also uses the Swissquote platform, charges an annual flat fee of CHF 72 regardless of the size of the custody account.

Other trading platforms such as those from Interactive Brokers and DEGIRO as well as neon banks such as Yuh and neon do not charge any custody fees at all.

With regard to custody account fees, you should therefore ask yourself the following question: How large is my custody account and what size will it be in the medium term?

Brokerage fees (commissions)

This is the transaction-related commission in favor of the broker that is incurred for every purchase or sale of securities such as ETFs. The corresponding pricing varies greatly depending on the broker. There are basically the following pricing models:

• Variable commissions
• Fixed commissions
• No commissions

Variable commissions

With this pricing model, the fees vary depending on the transaction value: This pricing model often applies to established Swiss brokers such as PostFinance and sometimes Swissquote. (Both have the same Swissquote platform. In contrast to PostFinance, Swissquote also offers relatively favorable fixed commissions, see next point). The fees often decrease as a percentage with increasing transaction value.

This is not the case with the two leading Swiss neobanks Yuh and neon, which pursue a linear price structure with 0.5% fees. Although such a pricing model is very easy to understand, it is only interesting in terms of price for smaller trades up to around CHF 1,000 due to the lack of a cost ceiling.

” Nowadays, double-digit commission amounts for an ETF trade are simply no longer competitive. “

Fixed commissions

You will be charged a flat fee regardless of the transaction amount. This pricing model is used in part or, depending on the ETF, at DEGIRO (flat fee of €2) and at Swissquote (CHF 9). Some providers such as Cash (CHF 29 via partner bank Zweiplus) or Migros Bank (CHF 40 online and CHF 100 via customer advisors) regularly advertise their supposedly attractive fixed fee model. But let’s be honest: nowadays, double-digit commissions for an ETF trade are simply no longer competitive, unless the transaction amounts are at least six figures.

No commissions

Some platforms such as DEGIRO, Interactive Brokers, but also Yuh and neon waive commissions entirely for certain ETFs. Behind this are deals between the brokers and the ETF providers, who want to push certain ETFs and therefore pay the commissions or reimburse the brokers. Commission-free trades are only really interesting for you if these so-called “free ETFs” are attractive products that are already established on the market and whose recurring product fees (TER) and other features are comparable to those of top ETFs.

” Commission-free does not mean free. “

The European market leader DEGIRO offers a particularly wide range of attractive and commission-free ETFs. But beware: commission-free is not the same as free. Not even with DEGIRO. The European market leader charges a flat-rate processing fee of €1 for every trade (see section below “Other costs”).

– Partner Offer –

DEGIRO offers a very simple fee model with flat rates, which is hard to beat, especially for larger sums.

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Currency exchange fees

This fee is charged whenever you have to exchange currencies for securities trading.

“The costs of currency exchange are generally underestimated, although they often have the biggest impact on trades.“

Unfortunately, many people underestimate the associated costs, partly because they are often well hidden, i.e. they are charged separately. This is a shame, because the costs for currency exchange can have the biggest impact on your trades.

At Swissquote, for example, you pay 0.95% currency exchange fees, which costs you a whopping CHF 95 for a transaction worth CHF 10,000! Nevertheless, with the Swiss market leader you can have (almost) as many foreign currency accounts as you like. For example, you could transfer existing euro holdings to the Swissquote multi-currency account to save on currency exchange fees for your next ETF trade in euros.

At 0.25%, DEGIRO offers significantly lower currency exchange fees than Swissquote, but only if you do without foreign currency accounts. In this case, every currency exchange is automated. As a general rule, every transaction in foreign currency is subject to a currency exchange fee, including dividend income in foreign currencies.

Alternatively, DEGIRO now offers foreign currency accounts (EUR, USD, GBP). This involves manual currency exchange. However, these are more expensive, i.e. you will be charged a fixed fee of €10 in addition to the 0.25%.

Interactive Brokers is unbeatable when it comes to currency exchange fees : 0.002% (minimum fee 2$) and multi-currency accounts to boot!

– Partner Offer –

Advantages such as extremely low currency exchange fees make the long-established US provider Interactive Brokers very attractive for many investors.

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Stamp duties

Transactions in Switzerland are subject to the federal turnover tax. This tax, also known as stamp duty, is charged on a linear basis, i.e. in proportion to the transaction value, namely 0.075% for domestic securities and 0.15% for foreign securities. This means that for a transaction value of CHF 10,000, you pay CHF 7.50 or CHF 15 to the Swiss tax authorities.

Tax-saving tip: No stamp duty is payable with foreign brokers such as Interactive Brokers or DEGIRO (see also our article “ETF taxes Switzerland: Optimize your portfolio with these 5 tax-saving tips”).

Further costs

Furthermore, the exchanges charge the banks and brokers exchange fees. Depending on the broker, pricing model or exchange, these fees are passed on in full, in part or not at all.

With regard to equity and ETF trading, these fees are already included in the commissions at Swissquote and are not charged separately. At Interactive Brokers, on the other hand, they are only included in the “fixed price” price model, while at DEGIRO they are only charged to Swiss investors for foreign trading venues, namely as “fees for trading modalities” of €2.50 per foreign exchange per year.

Other costs that some brokers charge separately are processing fees. At DEGIRO, this fee amounts to €1 per trade.

Conclusion on fees and costs

No matter what type of investor you are, you should attach great importance to the cost factor. Because high fees mean lower returns for you.

So prefer trading platforms without ongoing costs and if custody account fees are charged, then they should be capped, as with Swissquote, and not exceed 0.1% of the custody account value.

Ideally, brokerage fees should be (significantly) less than 1% of the transaction value and should not exceed CHF 10. Don’t choose a “free ETF” just because it is commission-free. The product-specific conditions must also be right.

You should also keep currency exchange fees as low as possible (max. 0.25%) or avoid them altogether. The latter is possible with multi-currency accounts or (more simply) by trading securities in the trading currency CHF.

It is also worth switching to a foreign, stamp duty-free broker such as Interactive Brokers or DEGIRO, especially for large investment sums.

Finally, you should also be aware of other costs such as any stock exchange or processing fees that some brokers charge and take them into account when choosing a broker, even if these fees are usually moderate.

“Best Broker Switzerland” factor #2:
Securities offering

This factor is particularly important if you have clear ideas about your investments. For example, you would like to invest in very specific ETFs and possibly also purchase them on your preferred stock exchange. In such a case, you should only consider a broker that has the appropriate offering.

For Swiss investors who prefer to trade via the main Swiss stock exchange SIX, Swissquote should be unbeatable. Swissquote also offers all the winning ETFs we have selected on the main Swiss stock exchange SIX.

– Partner Offer –

The pioneering broker Swissquote (to the review) not only offers Swiss investors the largest selection of investment products. You also receive all ETFs traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange at a fair fee of CHF 9. Use the promotional code “MKT_SFB” to earn trading credits and support our blog at the same time. Click on the ad below to go directly to the account opening page.

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Conclusion on the securities offering

The range of securities is important for you insofar as your desired ETFs & Co. should be tradable on your preferred exchange on the platform. If required, we can clarify the products for you with all our recommended providers. Simply write us your request in the comments below.

“Best Broker Switzerland” factor #3:
User-friendliness of the platform

If you prefer to manage your finances via both desktop and mobile, then classic online brokers such as Swissquote, Interactive Brokers or DEGIRO are your best bet. We use all of these platforms and, after a short period of familiarization, we have no problems using them – however much they differ in terms of look and feel.

What is obvious, however, is that Interactive Brokers offers the most diverse range of platforms: No fewer than seven platforms, including two cell phone apps, with countless features are available for beginners to experienced traders.

At the other end of the scale are the platforms of neobanks such as Yuh or neon, which limit themselves to mobile trading via app and do without web-based solutions on the big screen.

In addition to the look and feel of the platform, useful reports such as transaction confirmations, dividend statements and tax reports also make an important contribution to the user-friendliness of the platform. In terms of informative value and convenience, Swissquote is clearly ahead in our opinion.

While Swissquote, for example, automatically sends incoming dividends including any taxes separately to the customer’s mailbox in the form of a clear PDF, this information must be retrieved manually at DEGIRO and Interactive Brokers.

Conclusion on the user-friendliness of the platform

We think that all platforms today are generally quite user-friendly. Ultimately, it’s a matter of taste whether you like a platform or not. However, if you want to manage your portfolio on a large screen, there is no getting around classic online brokers such as Interactive Brokers, which is uniquely diverse in this respect.

Experience has shown that Swissquote offers significantly more convenience in reporting than its foreign competitors.

“Best Broker Switzerland” factor #4:
Security & regulation

With regard to this factor, you should ask yourself the following three questions in particular:

• Is the broker regulated by a reputable financial supervisory authority?
• How are my assets protected in the event of the broker’s insolvency?
• Does the broker lend my securities?

We rate the security standards of all our cooperation partners as high, even if the individual security aspects differ greatly from one another. What Swissquote, DEGIRO and Interactive Brokers have in common, and which is also conducive to security, is their high reputation and strong market position.

Swissquote and DEGIRO, for example, have banking licenses and are therefore regulated by the state (CH and D respectively). In these two cases, this also means that ETFs are considered special assets and are therefore protected against broker insolvency. Interactive Brokers, on the other hand, does not have a banking license. Consequently, cash and securities are held separately, which means that your assets would be protected in the event of the broker’s insolvency or would not be included in the bankruptcy estate.

Interactive Brokers also offers above-average deposit protection of USD 500,000, compared to CHF 100,000 and EUR 100,000 for Swissquote and DEGIRO respectively.

Securities lending is widespread among ETF providers. Whether an ETF can be lent is always stated in the small print of the product data sheet. However, your broker can also lend your securities to third parties against collateral in order to generate additional income. We consider the associated risk of loss to be very low.

Nevertheless, this risk does not apply to brokers without securities lending. At DEGIRO , your securities can be lent whether you want to or not. DEGIRO uses the income generated from this to offer the lowest possible price level. This means that no money flows directly back to you. In this respect, the regulation at Swissquote and Interactive Brokers is more advantageous for you: in contrast to DEGIRO, your securities are only lent optionally, i.e. with your consent. You also receive a share of the profits (see also the section below “Additional earnings through securities lending”).

Conclusion on security & regulation

Even if this issue is structured differently at Swissquote, Interactive Brokers and DEGIRO, we rate all three renowned and successful brokers as very secure. However, if you do not wish to have your securities lent for risk reasons, DEGIRO is out of the question.

“Best Broker Switzerland” factor #5:
Customer service & support

Almost all brokers now offer professionally produced explanatory videos and informative FAQs. Customer service is particularly relevant if you have a specific question of a certain urgency and importance. Because in such cases, you can see how efficient the platform’s customer support really is.

As a rule of thumb based on our experience, domestic providers such as Swissquote, but also the local neobanks Yuh and neon, offer more efficient customer service than the international heavyweights DEGIRO and Interactive Brokers. The latter is particularly notable for its long response times, which can sometimes take over a week.

For some, it may also be a relevant plus point that concerns can be dealt with more directly (by telephone) and in a familiar setting (native language and better understanding of CH-specific queries such as tax issues) with the CH providers mentioned.

Conclusion on customer service and support

If you are looking for short response times, a high level of expertise in Swiss-specific matters and/or direct telephone contact in a familiar setting, you are generally better off with domestic providers such as the Swiss market leader Swissquote than with foreign players.

“Best Broker Switzerland” factor #6:
Additional services

There are countless features that brokers use to set themselves apart from the competition. However, many of them are likely to offer you only a modest additional benefit – if any at all. We consider the following additional services to be particularly interesting:

Leverage effect through securities loans

If you are a risk-taker and return-oriented like Toni, securities loans or so-called Lombard loans may be an option worth considering for you. With such a loan, you leverage your securities, which can lead to greater fluctuations in the value of your portfolio and – in the positive case – to considerably higher returns. The lowest possible interest rates are crucial here: Toni has been leveraging his ETF portfolio withInteractive Brokers for several years due to the comparatively attractive interest conditions for Lombard loans. In addition to low interest rates, a high degree of flexibility in terms of maturity, availability and currencies is important to him as a borrower.

Credit currency	DEGIRO	Interactive Brokers	Swissquote
CHF	4.00%* – 5.50%	1.772%**	3.51%
EUR	5.00%* – 6.50%	4.383%**	6.07%
USD	5.25%* – 6.90%	5.830%**	7.54%

Different margin conditions depending on currency and provider as at 14.1.2025. *Fixed advance, i.e. interest accrues on the entire amount allocated, regardless of how much is actually used. **Up to 90,000 CHF/EUR or 100,000 USD, thereafter gradually more favorable.

If you would like to find out more about Lombard loans, including portfolio simulations, we recommend our article “Lombard loans when buying ETFs: Boosting your return on equity or playing with fire?”.

Additional earnings through securities lending

We have already mentioned securities lending under factor #4 “Security and regulation”. As a reminder, it serves to generate additional income and offset costs. With online brokers, securities lending is only of interest to you if it is optional and you receive a share of the income. This is the case with both Swissquote and Interactive Brokers. Toni and Stefan both participate in Interactive Brokers’ “Share Yield Optimization Program” by having their portfolios lent by Interactive Brokers and thus receiving a 50% share of the “standard market” interest income. The following illustration uses the example of Swissquote to show how securities lending works in practice.

Best Broker Switzerland: Conclusion

There is no such thing as the perfect broker for everyone. The lowest prices, the largest selection and the best service would be squaring the circle. Every broker has strengths and weaknesses. The decisive factor is what is important to you and where you are prepared to make compromises.

Broker comparison Switzerland as a guide

With regard to securities trading, we have summarized below the most important strengths and weaknesses of the three leading online brokers Swissquote, DEGIRO and Interactive Brokers as well as the two largest Swiss neobanks Yuh and neon. You can find more detailed information about these providers, including promotional codes, on our recommendations page.

Best Broker Switzerland “Swissquote”

If efficient customer service with a special understanding of Switzerland-specific concerns and/or the widest possible product range of different asset classes are particularly important to you and at the same time you are prepared to pay a custody account fee with a cost ceiling for these benefits, then Swissquote should be your preferred choice.

Best Broker Switzerland “DEGIRO”

If, on the other hand, you value a simple pricing model without custody account fees and with low flat fees, regardless of the size of your investments, and are willing to accept a limited product range and the obligatory securities lending, then you will feel very comfortable with the European market leader DEGIRO.

Best Broker Switzerland “Interactive Brokers”

Ultimately, you will be particularly happy with Interactive Brokers if you want to benefit from the sometimes extremely low prices for trading, Lombard loans, currency exchange and/or the uniquely diverse range of platforms. On the other hand, you should not be put off by the comparatively complex fee structure and the sometimes sluggish customer service.

Or the neobanks?

Neobanks such as Yuh or neon score points with their simple, linear fee model for smaller investment sums, e.g. regularly using an automated savings plan. However, we do not yet consider the investment offering to be sufficient, even though individual ETFs are certainly attractive.

Do I even have to choose a broker?

No, of course not. With the exception of Swissquote, neither the online brokers DEGIRO and Interactive Brokers nor the neobanks Yuh and neon charge custody account fees or other ongoing costs. This means that you can combine several providers or simply try them out without incurring any costs.

One solution for you could also be a “multi-broker strategy” in which you selectively use services from several providers. Stefan, for example, has adopted this approach by splitting his securities portfolio between the platforms of Swissquote (via PostFinance), Interactive Brokers and DEGIRO.

Which is your best broker in Switzerland? Are other factors important to you when choosing a broker? Let us know your opinion in the comment column below.

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Updates

2025-01-15: Interest rates for Lombard loans updated.

2024-11-11: Mentions that DEGIRO has introduced foreign currency accounts.

2024-07-21: It was pointed out more clearly that a broker comparison Switzerland was used for better understanding.

Disclaimer

Disclaimer: Investing involves risks of loss. You must decide for yourself whether you want to bear these risks or not.

Errors excepted: We have written this “Best Broker Switzerland…” article to the best of our knowledge and belief and have included a broker comparison Switzerland with five previously carefully tested providers for a better understanding. Our aim is to provide you as a private investor with the most objective and meaningful financial information possible. However, should we have made any errors, forgotten important aspects and/or no longer have up-to-date information, we would be grateful if you could let us know.

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