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When Schwiizerfranke was launched in 2019, a Lack of convenient investment opportunities in Switzerland (such as low-cost access to ETFs) was the motivation for this blog. Since then, a lot has happened and some Swiss fintechs have brought successful changes to the market.
A really inexpensive option, around self selected ETFs or an ETF savings plan is still almost impossible to find in Switzerland.
Some Schwiizerfranke readers have therefore been investing with foreign brokers such as DEGIRO for some time. DEGIRO ETF and shares Investments could also be interesting for you.
Find out what DEGIRO offers Swiss people and whether the DEGIRO experience is useful for Swiss people in this article!
As with the purchase of food, for example, investors in the Selection of brokers various selection criteria. Some like to source everything regionally, and for others the broad selection is more important. Groceries vs. online brokers - the comparison is somewhat lame, but there are parallels.
DEGIRO does not come from Switzerland and may therefore have a few disadvantages for Swiss people, but it also has many noteworthy advantages. Because DEGIRO offers a very Wide product range at extremely favourable conditions on. For example, the Degiro ETF costs from as little as 1 euro!
But more on this in the DEGIRO Fees section of our DEGIRO Experience Switzerland report or in their T&Cs. Let's start with the DEGIRO advantages and disadvantages of the platform:
A big issue when choosing a broker is also the fees. Of all the brokers tested so far on Schwiizerfranke, DEGIRO offers the lowest fees. most favourable conditions an. Would you like an example?
If you want to get an overview for yourself, the Overview at DEGIRO * further. DEGIRO's terms and conditions apply to the €1 ETFs. Also exciting is the Comparative calculationwhich was set up with other brokers. The chart shows you an overview of the differences between the various brokers.
You want to work in Foreign currencies invest? In Switzerland, most providers quickly collect 1% and more for the Currency exchange. Not with Degiro, here a so-called FX trade costs only 0.25%.
User friendliness for non-traders
Those who have already Swissquote (the largest Swiss broker platform) knows how demanding (one could also say "overloaded") the platform is. Because Swissquote is very focused on trading and therefore offers for professional traders offers some useful functions.
These instruments are to some extent superfluous for private investors with a long-term orientation and rather confusing, especially for newcomers. DEGIRO also offers many instruments and a professional interface but on a far more neat way.
Local vs. international
Swissquote is a Swiss platform and Locally regulated. DEGIRO falls as a Dutch platform under European regulations of the BAFIN in Germany.
Fees:
While Swissquote is ahead on the subject of fees in Switzerland, depending on the product, the international picture is of course quite different. DEGIRO offers Far more favourable conditions. Cheap at any price? By no means should you only look at the fees.
But remember that fees are a gift of return. Because performance / profit is never certain - but fees are. Clearer Plus point so for the DEGIRO Experience Switzerland-wide in this small Degiro vs Swissquote comparison!
A Securities purchase from €1? Yes, such favourable offers are now a well-known marketing tool with some providers outside Switzerland. Some German providers offer several hundred ETFs free of charge as a savings plan. But Swiss people cannot open an account with every bank.
With DEGIRO, however, it does, because thanks to the Degiro ETF Offer lie the Degiro ETF Costn for a large Core selection at only 1€ Commission.
How this works exactly would go beyond the length of this article. You can find out the exact details directly from DEGIRO..
A wide range of almost free ETFs and other attractive offers will probably lead to an increasing DEGIRO portfolio in the long term. However, by the next tax season at the latest, the question of the DEGIRO tax return louder and louder throughout Switzerland.
You can simply transfer your positions 1:1 into your securities list. Here you will find a small guide to this. First the bad news: There is No DEGIRO tax statement for your Swiss tax return. However, this is not really necessary as you can simply enter the items into your tax return using the above guide.
Want some good news? You can apply the reduced withholding tax rate to U.S. income and thus significantly Save taxes with DEGIRO. To do so, complete the "W8-BEN" online form. DEGIRO will then apply the "W8-BEN" to selected US securities. reduced tax rates apply. These securities are then only taxed at 15% on distributions (dividends). You can find more information on this and on the DEGIRO Swiss tax return in here directly at DEGIRO Taxes Switzerland in the help section.
If you want to buy cryptos at Degiro, there is an indirect solution. So far, you can't buy real cryptocurrencies there, but rather Indirectly via so-called ETPs / tracker certificates invest in cryptos.
The Degiro Cryptocurrencies The offer currently includes significant
The Costs for Degiro cryptocurrency trading are 2€ +1€ commission
Important: You cannot buy real cryptocurrencies here, only securities that reflect their price.
Yes, admittedly, the DEGIRO experience report was a long time coming. At the beginning, scepticism prevailed and the Focus was primarily on local suppliers. Some of the Schwiizerfranke readers kept bringing up DEGIRO in the comments and so the wish for a DEGIRO experience Switzerland post was fulfilled 🙂
DEGIRO Switzerland Experiences so far have been very positive and as soon as there are new experiences, the article will be updated accordingly.
If you have been a DEGIRO customer for a while, you are welcome to share your experiences and feedback. Do you have anything else to add?
You are not with DEGIRO? What are you missing on the topic? Is DEGIRO a suitable investment platform for you?
Leave us a comment there!
Your key to success! Discover our top recommendations from real testimonials.
Transparency note: This DEGIRO Experience Switzerland article was written in cooperation with DEGIRO created. The presentation and description has been created independently and free of Schwiizerfranke.
36 Responses
Unfortunately, the ETF selection for Swiss investors is currently very limited and is becoming increasingly limited, as the KIIDs for Switzerland are apparently missing.
I can no longer buy many existing titles.
New ETFs are also only very rarely added on request.
A very interesting and popular growing candidate would be e.g. the spdr msci acwi imi IE00B3YLTY66 which would also be tradable on SIX.
Although the exchange rate conditions are still better than those of Swiss providers, the last two years have seen a considerable increase in prices and, in addition, payment in euros is not possible, i.e. since most ETPs are offered in euros and (even if available) not in CHF, the currency exchange takes place twice - when buying and selling.
A pity, really.
Thanks for the Degiro test report 🙂
I don't necessarily want to have securities lending. Your Degiro vs Swissquote comparison shows that Swissquote also offers securities lending, but at least it's optional, which I think is good.
Otherwise, Degiro CH is of course much, much cheaper than Swissquote. I think I will go with a combination of the two brokers in parallel 🙂
I opened an account this week. The whole thing takes several working days (verification, crediting the deposit, etc.), so nothing with a few minutes or hours, but easy to create. Then I used the link here, which is supposed to earn me CHF 100, but nothing...
Let's see if the provider then at least delivers what he promises.
Dear Guido, you have to open your account via this link (as described) in order to receive the credit.
If you open the account first and then use the link, it's probably too late. You can write to the support team, maybe they'll give you the code.
Best regards 🙂
Good day
Thank you very much for this detailed contribution.
I have another question: If something happens to Degiro etc. are my investments in an ETF fund at Degiro at 100% safe?
Thank you very much for your information.
LG
Hello Enea,
As Degiro is a securities lending company, this cannot be guaranteed 100%. If you want to be absolutely sure (which I can understand), then for example Swissquote an alternative. Securities lending is also offered there, but it is optional and selectable. Unfortunately, securities lending cannot be deselected at Degiro.
Addendum:
DG changed the fees in May. The "free" ETFs now cost a fixed 1.- per purchase.
Hello
Could you explain what difference the stock market selection makes, or how one should proceed here?
I have heard that Neon will also be offering an investment platform soon. I hope that this will also boost the "fee market" again.
Dear Daniela
There are a number of factors that should be taken into account when choosing the right stock exchange. As a rule of thumb, people like to look first at the home market of the security. A US share listed in NY probably has the highest availability there and thus the most favourable prices (so-called spreads).
Currency changes cost you money, but are unfortunately often necessary. The order types can also differ depending on the exchange ... and with ETFs there are other factors to consider.
Unfortunately, the answer is not so simple (which is why this is also an important topic in the FinanceTimetable), but I hope this already helps you a little.
Hello, everyone,
I just wanted to create a custody account with DeGiro, as securities cannot be lent with them. Unfortunately, DeGiro no longer offers this. This is for your information.
Hi Eric, I have a few questions about Degiro;
- If I go to the ETF column and enter IE00B5BMR087 (S&P 500 Index from iShares), several come up with different exchanges. Which exchange should I use? Or is there an advantage in terms of fees if I choose the Swiss stock exchange? Does the volume of the different exchanges play a role?
- Where can I find the fees when buying ETF on Degiro?
- Can you set up an automatic savings plan or do you have to trigger the purchase yourself every month?
- Can I also invest a small amount or do I always have to buy the whole share?
Thank you
greetings Kevin
Hello Kevin
At Degiro you still have to buy whole shares (no fractional shares available).
You can find the fees on the website or via Google.
The stock market plays a role, yes. The higher the volume, the lower the spreads will be. But there are other factors to consider that I can't put all in the commentary here.
I hope that helps you already!
Dear greetings 🙂
Hello Eric & Community
Firstly, thank you very much for your discussions, I am learning a lot very quickly :).
However, I still have unanswered questions about which I have not yet seen any clear statements (perhaps I have overlooked something):
1) If I open a CHF account/deposit with DEGIRO via CIC, do I not pay foreign currency fees when I transfer CHF from a Swiss account to the CHF DEGIRO account/deposit?
2) Do I pay foreign currency fees if I use my CHF custody account at DEGIRO to invest in ETFs listed in another currency?
3) Do I have to pay German capital gains tax on ETF price increases if I am (only) tax resident in Switzerland?
Best regards
Sean
Hi Sean,
thank you for your great feedback and the good questions! 🙂
1) if you have a CHF account with Degiro and invest there in CHF, you will not pay any exchange rate fees.
2) Yes, as soon as you invest in other currencies, fees may apply.
3) No, what makes you think that? Are you German by birth? Degiro is from the Netherlands and you say you are only taxable in Switzerland ...?
Best regards 🙂
Eric
Hi, Eric,
Thank you for this report.
I have set up a DEGIRO account and transferred CHF 1189.30 from my CH Neon account to the CHF DEGIRO deposit (Bank CIC Basel) for the first time.
The goal is to build up 2 ETF accounts and to deposit annually <5 times amounts around CHF 1'000.
Transferred from Neon: CHF 1'189.30 (had mistakenly ordered EUR 1200 not CHF, hence the odd number).
Strangely enough, I then only received an amount of CHF 1'152.30 on the CHF Degiro Depot account.
I don't understand this difference of CHF 37.- or 3%. Am I missing something?
Is that normal to have to sacrifice 3% from the deposit before even investing?
As a second topic, I would be interested to know if it is worthwhile to trade ETFs that are available for free (order fees) at Degiro on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, and not on the SWX? e.g. iShare MCIS World ETFs. Or are there significant disadvantages as a CH investor not to buy on SWX?
Thank you and best regards
Dave
Hello Dave
I suspect the amount was due to the exchange rate (depending on what rate you were offered and what fees were due). Therefore, always transfer the correct currency. With Neon you even have the Wise integration, in case you ever want to send money in another currency.
To keep the comment short, feel free to take a look at this post about ETFs. There you will find my opinion (you may have a different one) about wealth accumulation in foreign currencies.
Best regards 🙂
Eric
Hi, Eric,
I still corresponded with Neon and DEGIRO (DEGIRO responded VERY quickly to my email, by the way), both confirmed your guess.
It's really due to the exchange rate and an incorrect booking order on my part (rookie mistake;).
Thanks for the linked post, love reading it.
Yours sincerely
Dave
Hello Dave
Could you elaborate for everyone reading what your rookie mistake is about? Just opened an account and would of course avoid the same mistake. In which currency should the booking order be entered?
Thank you very much for a short feedback.
Greetings
Sera
Since your account is in CHF but you transferred EUR, they were exchanged.
You have bought EUR 1200 for CHF 1189 and have transferred it
The EUR 1189 was exchanged back into CHF 1152 at the daily rate and so booked in. The exchange rate was not bad at CHF96.9/EUR.
Sorry, but that was your mistake, not DeGiro's.
Hey,
Wanted to ask how it looks with the fees and co. since the Degiro was bought.
Hey Marin
So far, nothing has changed noticeably (see price table at Degiro). In fact, they are probably becoming more favorable, as they can now cover a broader range of products more cheaply.
Best regards 🙂
So as far as taxes are concerned, it's extremely tedious, but maybe I'm doing something wrong....
I'm with Degiro since last year, so far quite satisfied customer 🙂 And complete novice as far as trading is concerned 😉
Now I'm just on the tax return, I have to manually record each share, and for each share manually enter each purchase and sale with date and number.
If this is the right way to go, I think I'll stop trading again....
Therefore my question, is there a short variant to enter this in the tax return? Like an account, with only two numbers, tax value and income?
And how to correctly specify the CASH in the DEGIRO investment account that is part of the portfolio I have not yet figured out because this has no account number... In the securities directory I have entered this as Diverse, which is the only one that is happy without an account number.
Then there is the money account, which was also mentioned above by other people, that is in CHF and has an IBAN that starts with DE, so far so good, but that is at 0.00, since all available money in the investment account is ready to be traded, that's just as info on the side for curious people who know even less than I do 🙂
Hi Michael
Trading, unfortunately, always provides increased effort in taxes. (For me, not the only reason why I invest boring and long-term 🙂 ). After all, if you hold certain positions longer, next year you only have to enter the possible deviations.
Where I'm not sure, but have heard that it goes through that way for taxes: You don't have to enter every trade of a stock, supposedly it's enough to enter the ending year balance. Personally, I also enter all the information.
Does anyone know the answer to the cash account? I think it can't be so wrong to specify it as "Miscellaneous" with appropriate description.
(...)You don't have to enter every trade of a share, but supposedly it's enough to enter the end-of-year holdings. Personally, however, I also enter all the information.(...)
I would also be cautious about that, because otherwise you could hide transactions during the year and thus any price gains from the tax authorities, right? The holding period of securities is also one of the criteria for being classified as a commercial trader. As a "normal mortal", I would therefore better declare everything in full in my tax return 😉
Hello, Eric,
thank you for your great contributions. I was able to read a lot on your website, because I was also looking for an ETF savings plan (German model) :).
I actually find Swissquote very unappealing from the user interface and find Derigo exciting because of the lower fees. It also seems to me more advantageous if you want to invest monthly smaller contributions e.g. 100CHF. Would you agree with that?
Hi Pina, thanks for your feedback 🙂 yes the German or probably almost worldwide concept of savings plans has unfortunately still not fully arrived in Switzerland. Findependent offers something very close in the meantime. Otherwise your Degiro approach is certainly a good method. A savings plan with 100 CHF or another amount has the great advantage of the Cost Average Effect - so you never have to think about whether now is the right time to invest (there probably never is) 🙂 .
Hello Eric
Thank you for your DEGIRO experience report!
I am in the process of setting up a custody account with DEGIRO so that I can then invest in ETF's on a monthly basis.
But I have one more (rather trivial) question:
If the monthly amount for the ETF's is transferred from my account to DEGIRO, does the money then go to DEGIRO-Switzerland or not? I only ask because I am not sure if I should open an additional account where foreign payments (if not DEGIRO-Switzerland) are cheaper than with my current account. I hope you understand my question;-)
Love and thank you for your feedback.
Valerie
Hello Valerie
every question is important and the basic ones even more so! 🙂
Degiro automatically offers you a Swiss Franc account with CH.... IBAN at the bank CIC. So you don't have to make any intermediate step if you invest there directly in CHF. If you click on "Deposit" in the upper right corner, you will see your personal Swiss Degiro account.
I hope this was your question?
Kind regards
Eric
Many thanks Eric, now it's clear to me;-)
Best regards and keep up the exciting posts!
Valerie
Hi, Eric,
Good blog!!
I just opened a Degiro account, but I'm not sure my account offers me a Swiss Franc account with CH...Iban at Bank CIC! When I click on deposit on the upper right corner, it shows a DE...IBAN at flatexDEGIRO Bank AG (Frankfurt, Germany). It also mentions I can only deposit EUR (no other currencies). When opening the account, Degiro didn't give me any options actually.
I Live and work in Switzerland, but I am Dutch and do have a EUR bank account in the Netherlands with ABN Amro Bank. I linked this EUR account to my Degiro account for deposits, basically because they said I could only deposit EUR and I thought this was the only way. But when I read this blog and Valerie's comments, it looks like it is possible to have CH...IBAN at Degiro, which likely makes more sense to me given my Income is Swiss (and otherwise I would be constantly wiring CHF to my EUR account to deposit...
Any idea how I ended up with a DE IBAN and others with a CH IBAN, am I the only one and does anyone have any idea how to change this easily?
Thanks,
Bo
Hi Bo
I recommend to reach out to the support. Probably they saw that you're dutch or that your reference account is in Euro.
For sure its possible, but probably they need to set up a new one for you 🙂
Best regards
Eric
I would be interested to know how this works with the tax. Are there any hurdles that need to be considered?
Hello, Lolo,
with Degiro specifically do you mean? For me it's the first tax year with Degiro so I don't have any experience yet - but in general securities that you hold abroad are the same. include in the taxesas if they were held domestically.
Thank you for your valuable reports and interesting tips. I also find the comments from individual readers very helpful. As is mentioned again and again,
it is up to each individual to decide whether to invest abroad or in Switzerland. I'm only recently (not to say that I'm a complete beginner 😉 ) with investing and the low fees of Degiro are of course already very tempting. I'm also a bit shocked, about the high fees of individual banks, because I had never checked resp. dealt with them before. But I personally have some reservations about investing my money abroad, it's just somehow this (Swiss) security thought. There was also talk of currency losses, as the individual ETFs are only available in euros. Can such losses make up for the fees in the long run?
Hello, Brigitte,
Thanks so much for your comment and great feedback 🙂 .
Losses on currency exchange can probably never be completely avoided, unless one would invest in Swiss shares at 100% in Switzerland. If you hedge your investment more broadly and invest globally, you have somewhat less risk. Over the long term, the returns are historically roughly comparable. So again, everyone can decide for themselves which factor should be weighted more heavily 🙂
When you buy a Vangard All World fund the currency is more or less irrelevant.
The securities are mostly quoted in USD, EUR, CND etc. anyway. If the EUR drops, you will notice it in exactly the same way, regardless of whether the price of the fund is in EUR or CHF...