Best way to convert USD to CHF

Finance, Taxes, Banking, Insurance and Retirement
1
Hello,

Is there some relatively easy way to convert USD to CHF without paying the typical wide spread that the banks charge? Revolut does a great rate, but it's not possible to fund the account in USD in Switzerland, afaik. So, CHF->USD would work, but not the other way around.

Thanks

2

Depends on the amounts involved.

Depending on the amount (think $25k +) cheapest would probably be to open a USD account with your bank, pay the USD in and hold it in USD, transfer USD to Revolut or Wise or similar, make the exchange transfer back.

The only problem is by transfering from you Swiss bank to Revolut and back to your Swiss bank, you would need to declare the Revolut account on your tax return, which you may or may not want to do.

3
Thank you. This is the part that is not possible, to my knowledge. Revolut accepts the funds only in CHF. Is it different with Wise? Also, Wise charges 0.5% fee I think.

4
Revolut also accepts other currencies to pay in.

5
How does this work? They provide only one CHxxx IBAN for funding. As far as I understand any USD I send to this account would be converted to CHF at my (or some intermediary) bank rate.

6
It gives me several options, in CHF, in GBP, in EUR.

7
use ibkr.com

8
This is correct, but you selected CHF account in revolut and thats why you see IBAN starting with CHxxx. Go to USD account, or add it if you don't have already and click details. It should be another IBAN.

9

Rubbish, you can open multiple accounts in different currencies and pay in these currencies.

That is the USP of these digital banks !!!

10
Just my $ 0.02

Why do you think it is not possible to send USD to a Revolut USD account in Switzerland? If you have the app instaled, you could use the built-in help to ask support how to do it. Usually you can send from currency X to another account in currency X no problem. You just need the destination account details.

I use/ d all of these.

Wise

Revolut

Currencyfair

XE.com

Currencyfair not so much since Wise (formerly Transferwise) and Revolut appeared. I believe Neon use Wise for their currency conversion services too. Neon is an online only Swiss bank. I haven't used XE for years.

Wise and Revolut have a very tight spread vs spot. Not much difference between them. Wise claim to have zero spread, and simply make adminsitration charges. Take that how you will.

Revolut just now: USD 1000 -> CHF 927.39

Wise just now: USD 1000 -> CHF 931.71

Currencyfair, the last time I checked, is peer to peer, so you just name your rate nd wit. They used to cancel all open orders at COB Friday for some reason. Currencyfair act as a market place and charge a fixed amount per transfer.

The Revolut free account has monthly limits to how much currency you can convert per month. It's about CHF 9 per month to go unlimited. KYC is done in the app.

Wise allows large amounts from the start, though you will have to do the KYC stuff for USD 25k. KYC is done in the app.