Custody terms in Switzerland: what safekeeping actually costs

At most Swiss banks, the annual custody fee runs between 0.15 and 0.35 percent of the portfolio value, often with a minimum fee of CHF 50 to 100 a year. That range gives a rough guide, not a basis for comparison: it covers only one of four cost blocks, and banks cut those blocks differently.

For an independent wealth manager this is not an academic nicety. The custodian is the one infrastructure decision the firm does not make alone, and its terms feed directly into what clients pay at the end of the year.

The short version

• At most Swiss banks, the annual custody fee runs between 0.15 and 0.35 percent of the portfolio value, plus a minimum fee that is often CHF 50 to 100 (Swiss Price Supervisor, Bank Fee Market Watch, 2025).
• That figure is still only one block of four. Safekeeping, transaction costs, currency spreads and product costs together make the price.
• Two tariffs are comparable only over a specific portfolio and a specific year, not over a single percentage.
• Art. 8 para. 2 FinSA requires information on costs; Art. 9 para. 1 FinSA requires it before the contract or the service.
• Art. 26 FinSA permits third-party compensation only where clients have been expressly informed in advance and have waived it, or where it is passed on in full.

What makes up the price

Safekeeping. The custody fee proper, usually a percentage of assets held with a minimum and sometimes a maximum. At most Swiss banks it runs between 0.15 and 0.35 percent of the portfolio value per year, plus a minimum fee that is often CHF 50 to 100 (Swiss Price Supervisor, Bank Fee Market Watch, 2025). It is the most visible and most easily compared part, which is exactly why conversations focus on it.

Transactions. Brokerage per trade, often tiered by volume, venue and instrument. Their weight depends on the mandate’s turnover. A strategy with four adjustments a year and one with forty pay very different sums under an identical custody fee.

Currency. The spread applied to the exchange rate on every purchase, sale and income credit in a foreign currency. It rarely appears as its own line on a statement and is often a material cost in internationally oriented portfolios.

Product costs. The ongoing costs of the instruments themselves. They do not run through the bank statement but reduce the instrument’s performance, which is why they are easily overlooked in a fee summary.

Why the custody fee alone does not carry

Because the four blocks are cut differently. A bank with a low safekeeping fee and high brokerage, and one with the reverse profile, cannot be ranked by the first number. Comparing them that way does not select the cheaper bank, it selects the cheaper label.

The comparison becomes sound only with a specific portfolio: its size, its currency structure, its expected number of transactions, calculated over a year. That is more work than reading two price sheets, and it is the only calculation that supports a decision.

A second point is rarely given weight and is felt daily: how long an account opening actually takes, and how sound the data interface for positions and transactions is. Neither appears on a price sheet.

What the law requires to be disclosed

Art. 8 para. 2 FinSA obliges financial service providers to inform clients about the personally recommended financial service and the risks and costs associated with it. Letter b of the same paragraph adds the economic ties to third parties.

The timing is in Art. 9 para. 1 FinSA: information is provided before the contract is concluded or the service is rendered. A cost summary that arrives with the first annual statement does not meet this.

Further reading: FinSA and FinIA in practice: rules of conduct for wealth managers

Compensation from third parties

Art. 26 para. 1 FinSA permits third-party compensation on one of two conditions: either clients have been expressly informed in advance and have waived it, or the compensation is passed on in full.

Paragraph 2 spells out the information requirement. It must state the nature and scope of the compensation and be given before the service is rendered or the contract concluded. Where the amount cannot be determined in advance, the calculation parameters and ranges must be stated; the amounts actually received must be disclosed on request.

Paragraph 3 defines the term broadly: compensation means benefits accruing to the financial service provider from third parties in connection with a financial service, in particular brokerage fees, commissions, discounts or other pecuniary benefits. A discount on the custody fee tied to the volume of assets placed with the bank therefore falls within scope.

What to settle before the conversation with the custodian

What turnover the strategy actually has. What share of the portfolio is held in foreign currency. Whether transactions are included in the tariff or billed separately. Whether discounts are tied to volume and therefore fall under Art. 26 FinSA. And how the costs will appear in client reporting, because anything that has no line item there is hard to explain.

Further reading: The operational base for independent wealth managers

Frequently Asked Questions on Custody Terms

What is a typical custody fee in Switzerland?

At most Swiss banks, the annual custody fee runs between 0.15 and 0.35 percent of the portfolio value, often tiered by account size, plus a minimum fee that is commonly CHF 50 to 100 a year (Swiss Price Supervisor, Bank Fee Market Watch 2025). That is still only one of four cost blocks: banks cut it differently, some charge transactions separately, others bundle them. Only the sum of safekeeping, transaction costs, currency spreads and product costs, calculated on a specific portfolio over a specific year, is meaningful.

Does a wealth manager have to disclose costs?

Yes. Art. 8 para. 2 FinSA names three points: the financial service personally recommended, together with its risks and costs; the business affiliations with third parties in connection with that service; and the market offer taken into account when selecting the financial instruments. Art. 9 para. 1 FinSA sets the timing: before the contract is concluded or the service is provided.

How must retrocessions be handled?

Art. 26 FinSA permits third-party compensation on two conditions only: either clients have been expressly informed in advance and have waived it, or the compensation is passed on to them in full. The information must state the nature and scope; where the amount cannot be determined in advance, the calculation parameters and ranges must be given, and the amounts actually received must be disclosed on request.

What counts as compensation at all?

Art. 26 para. 3 FinSA defines it broadly: benefits accruing to the financial service provider from third parties in connection with a financial service, in particular brokerage fees, commissions, discounts or other pecuniary benefits.

Where Everon stands

Everon holds the custodian relationships as a partner for affiliated wealth managers and provides the infrastructure used to open accounts, run portfolios and produce reports. The FinSA disclosure duties stay with the licensed institution; a partner does not assume them, it supplies the figures that satisfy them. Talk to us.

Last reviewed: September 2026. Sources: FinSA (SR 950.1), Art. 8, 9 and 26; Swiss Price Supervisor, “Bank Fee Market Watch” (“Marktbeobachtung zu den Gebühren von Schweizer Bankkonten”), 3rd edition, 28 April 2026 (data collected Q3 2025, 31 banks).