Swissquote

Swissquote’s clients are retail and professional individuals as well as asset managers and other financial institutions. 

Swissquote says that the expat account is an offshore account designed by long-term international professionals, for international professionals.

From basic offshore banking such as payments, to trading multi-asset classes globally, their expat account provides online access to the management of client assets.

Swissquote Bank Ltd. offers a fixed fee structure for international professionals with good saving rates and leading foreign currency exchange rates.

The key benefits of offshore banking with Swissquote include:

• You do not need a minimum balance and no account fees are charged
• Offshore saving – multiple currency accounts are available
• Good exchange rates

You can access a wide range of conventional and shariah-compliant investment options from leading providers with a focus on the local and regional markets.

Additionally, Swissquote allows you to choose between single equities, bonds and sukuk’s, mutual funds and ETFs with a geographical focus on The Middle East.

The key features of the expat account include:

1. Multicurrency Swiss bank account: USD, EUR, CHF, GBP, ZAR, AUD, RUB
2. Access to over 3 million instruments
3. No minimum balance requirement
4. Good interest rates (depicted below)
5. No on-going account maintenance fee
6. Mastercard multi-currency credit cards gold and silver
7. Profit from different currencies: USD, EUR, CHF

Swissquote's expat account interest rates can be summarised below:

• Swissquote says that interest on current accounts is credited once per year.
• If the income credit is <CHF200 equivalent in any currency you hold, no Swiss withholding tax is applied.
• If you receive >CHF200 in credit interest on any individual currency account, Swiss withholding tax will be applied at 35% on interest received.

NOTE: These interest rates are taken from Swissquote's website and can change from time to time and we would recommend checking Swissquote's website for the latest rates.

Swissquote's expat account offers online services that give you access to quick and easy local and international payments, along with superior foreign exchange services.

Swissquote's global trading platform provides an exhaustive choice of financial products.

The key features of Swissquote's global trading platform are:

1. Access to more than 60 global markets:

• US Markets: NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX, NYSE ARCA
• European Markets: SIX Swiss Exchange, XETRA, Euronext, London, Milan, Vienna
• Scandinavian Markets: Denmark, Norway, Sweden
• More than 2,5 million financial products

2. More than 8,000 mutual funds:

• Trade funds and ETFs from their prime partners and leaders, including Franklin Templeton, Fidelity, Schroders, Black Rock, etc. simply and directly via Swissquote's online platform
• A range of the leading Middle East – GCC focused mutual funds from leading managers*

*The transaction fees for mutual funds can be found in the FAQs section of this review.

3. Leading derivate markets:

• Eurex the world’s leading derivatives market for options and futures
• CME the most important futures market in the US
• ISE the most important equity options market in the US
• Scoach Europe’s largest exchange for structured products

NOTE:

• Swissquote currently charges negative interest rates on deposits exceeding the applicable limits as stated by them below.
  - Euros in custody over EUR 500’000 are subject to a negative interest rate of -0.5% p.a.
  - Swiss Francs in custody over CHF 500’000 are subject to a negative interest rate of -0.75% p.a.
  The accrued negative interest will be charged quarterly (in March, June, September, December), with the due date being the last business day of each quarter.
• Interest paid by Swissquote is credited once a year to your account. This interest is subject to withholding tax (Swiss withholding tax of 35%) if the amount exceeds CHF 200.
• Securities that cannot be traded online and off-exchange operations are subject to special fees.
• We would highly recommend reading the 'expert verdict' section of this review to make an informed decision.

Additionally, here's a free guide that can help you achieve better results. In this guide, you'll learn:

• Academic evidence only shared with a select few firms across the world
• A real-life example of why you should never try to outguess the market
• Why a fund's past performance is not enough to predict future returns
• Why you need to focus on what you can control and why this leads to a better investment experience
• Why you should accept the markets for what they are
• What can impact behaviour and make people seek instant gratification