DISCRETIONARY ACCOUNTS
If you have something on the order of $100,000 to
invest (depending on the bank, more at most of them),
you might consider a discretionary account with a Swiss
bank. The bank will manage the investment for you,
according to criteria you define. The investment will
move among markets and currencies and instruments,
according to the bank's best judgment.
For this sort of operation, you should consider
Geneva's private banks, rather than the large
nationwide Swiss banks. Most of these banks require a
$250,000 minimum investment. Remember that most of the
smaller Swiss banks (except for Baer and Vontobel,
which are listed on the Swiss stock market) do not
publish their balance sheets. Many of them will not
accept business without an introduction. This is not a
matter for a first-time overseas investor to undertake
with only a book as a guide.
The leading Swiss private banks are Pictet,
Lombard Odier, and Hentsch in Geneva. (Hentsch will
take an account with $100,000, but the others probably
will not.) They do not welcome walk-in clients. Two
other private banks are a bit more accessible.
Gutzailler, because it is a Eurobond issuer, and
Vontobel, because it does corporate finance. It is
possible to use a corporate banking relationship as a
doorway to private banking services at these banks,
which is why they are included in the listings at the
end of this chapter.
Swiss banks have developed the gold storage
business into a fine art. Although the days of sales
tax-free gold buying in Switzerland are over, the fee
for storing your gold in Switzerland is still quite
low. The minimum for having a Swiss bank store your
money is one kilogram (2.2 dollars) or 30 gold coins. It
is perfectly legal for Americans to buy and store gold
outside the United States. You do not have to declare
to any authorities that you own gold abroad in any
amount. However, you should declare for U.S. taxes any
capital gain from a sale of gold.
Despite these options, most foreigners in
Switzerland have simple bank accounts. Most of these
are not numbered accounts, but ordinary name accounts.
The minimums for ordinary accounts (which vary by bank)
are much lower. You can arrange for your bank to keep
your statements for you or send them in a plain
envelope once a year. You can work out a code with your
bank to be sure that, when you call, the person on the
other end of the telephone actually is you. Most common
is to give your mother's maiden name.
The largest banks operate throughout the country.
Private banks are concentrated in Geneva because most
of their clients historically were French.
Many Swiss bankers (and even bank employees at the
bottom of the totem pole, such as tellers and
switchboard operators) speak English. They also speak
German, French, and Italian as a matter of course and
frequently speak other languages as well, such as
Spanish.
