Revolut Switzerland Review (2024)

• Introduction
• Revolut Switzerland Review: The Multi-Currency Account
• Revolut Switzerland Account Opening Review: 10/10
• Conditions for Opening a Bank Account with Revolut Switzerland
• How to Open a Bank Account with Revolut Switzerland
• Our Opinion on the Account Opening with Revolut Switzerland
• Revolut App Features Review: 7/10
• Revolut App Features List
• International Payments
• Domestic Transfers in Switzerland
• Revolut Junior
• Revolut Switzerland Credit Card Review: 8/10
• Revolut Debit Card
• Revolut Card Settings
• Revolut Switzerland Fees: 7/10
• Revolut Plans in Switzerland
• Revolut Card Fees
• Bank Transfers Fees in Switzerland in CHF
• SEPA Transfer fees in EUR
• International SWIFT Payments Fees
• Exchange Fees on Multi-currency Transfers
• Instant Transfers
• Our Opinion on Revolut Account Fees in Switzerland
• Revolut Customer Service Review: 6/10
• Revolut App Customer Reviews and User Experience: 9/10
• Revolut Banking License and Security: 7/10
• Our Final Review of Revolut Switzerland
• Yuh vs Revolut: Which is the best multi-currency account
• Neon vs Revolut: Which is the best account for travel
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Revolut Switzerland

Introduction

In November 2024, Revolut Switzerland remains a standout choice for Swiss residents seeking a versatile and modern neobank. Our review of Revolut covers the Revolut app, its card offerings, and key features.

With seamless account setup, an intuitive mobile app, and powerful multi-currency management, Revolut is ideal for frequent travelers and those looking for flexibility in their financial management. We dive into its premium features, user experience, and overall value for Swiss customers.

Revolut Switzerland Review: The Multi-Currency Account

Revolut Ltd is a neobank based in the United Kingdom founded in 2015. It was granted a European bank licence in 2018.

Revolut claims more than 4 million customers worldwide, including 250,000 in Switzerland. This neobank offers an alternative to Swiss consumers with cheaper and more flexible banking services.

Revolut offers 3 types of multi-currency bank account in Switzerland:

• Revolut Standard
• Revolut Premium
• Revolut Metal
• Revolut Ultra

For a quick preview, compare Revolut Standard vs Premium vs Metal vs Ultra

Revolut Switzerland Account Opening Review: 10/10

Revolut allows you to open a mobile bank account in a few minutes from your smartphone.

Conditions for Opening a Bank Account with Revolut Switzerland

This neobank is very interesting for expatriates in Switzerland, travellers and students doing an exchange in Europe.

How to Open a Bank Account with Revolut Switzerland

Opening a bank account with Revolut Switzerland takes less than 10 minutes:

1. Enter your mobile phone number on the Revolut website, selecting +41 for Switzerland
2. Download the Revolut app and follow the steps
3. Make a small deposit of  10 CHF
4. It’s done! You account is opened 🙌

Note that in order to receive your Revolut card, you must verify your identity.

Unlike large Swiss banks, Revolut will not ask you to provide paper documents. You do everything from the mobile app.

This video explain how to proceed:

Revolut Switzerland ID Check

The Revolut account allows you to make all the standard transactions (bank transfer, direct debit, etc.) like with any Swiss bank account.

After verifying your identity, you can order your card from the app. The Revolut card is free and is delivered within 5 to 10 days.

Revolut Switzerland Debit Mastercard

Our Opinion on the Account Opening with Revolut Switzerland

Revolut App Features Review: 7/10

Revolut App Features List

As a neobank, Revolut offer all their services through a mobile application. That means it’s possible to do almost everything from your smartphone:

• Access your payment history
• Make new payments
• Exchange currencies
• Buy crypto-currencies and commodities
• Block or freeze your card
• Change the daily and monthly limit of the card
• Change your personal details
• Contact the customer service by Chat
• Change your subscription

The list of features is very complete but some specific to Switzerland are missing:

• No personal Swiss IBAN CH
• eBill not available
• Revolut TWINT not available
• Not possible to scan and pay invoices with QR code

In Switzerland, several neobanks offer eBill and TWINT. Yuh has the advantage of having an integrated TWINT application: Yuh TWINT.

International Payments

Revolut is a neobank based in London, which means that international payments are initiated in London with your GB IBAN.

Your money doesn’t really cross the channel by ferry, it’s only electronic of course. 😀

On their website, Revolut confirm that an international transfer can take up to 5 working days:

Domestic Transfers in Switzerland

A wire transfer from a Swiss bank to another Swiss bank is instant, it usually takes a few seconds before showing up on the other account.

In Switzerland, Revolut use Credit Suisse to provide a Swiss IBAN, but the account is under the name of Revolut. That’s not ideal but that works.

In practice, a Revolut transfer in CHF to another Swiss account can take – at best – a few minutes – up to a few hours when it’s the first transfer to a specific beneficiary.

Domestic transfers with Revolut are not as quick as other Swiss neobanks like Alpian, or Yuh. or Zak.

Revolut Junior

With Revolut Standard you can already have 1 child on Revolut Junior. If you need more you have to upgrade to either Revolut Premium or Revolut Metal. This feature allows you to create a sub-account for a child aged 7 to 17 and receive card for each of them.

There are currently too few features within Revolut Junior. It’s more like a Space but not like a child account: you can’t set limits on the use of the card. That means that your child can spend the full balance available of the Junior account.

Revolut Junior Account

Revolut Junior – Weekly allowance

Revolut Junior accounts are not multi-currency. That means that your child will not be able to use the card while travelling, the same way you do with your Revolut card.

The only interesting feature is the “Weekly allowance” that allows you to transfer a fixed amount on a weekly basis

Revolut Switzerland Credit Card Review: 8/10

Revolut Debit Card

Depending on the country, Revolut offers either a Visa or a MasterCard debit card, and you can’t choose.

For Switzerland, you’ll usually get a Visa Debit Card.

When visiting their website you can mainly see Mastercards with different designs for each plan  (Revolut does not offer a Swiss version yet):

Revolut Switzerland Card

Revolut Premium Card

Revolut Metal Card

On the Standard plan, you have to pay 5.50 CHF for delivery fee of the Card.

Revolut Card Settings

The card settings are not on par with N26, we would like more settings for the Revolut card. N26 offers more settings, such as the option to block online payments or ATM withdrawals.

Revolut Card Settings

N26 Card Settings

Revolut Switzerland Fees: 7/10

Revolut currently offers 4 plans with significant differences:

• Revolut Standard: Free, this account allows you to hold multiple currencies, make international payments without fees up to a certain limit, and access basic financial tools. However, advanced features are limited.
• Revolut Premium: CHF 10.99/month, Premium offers additional benefits, such as higher free withdrawals, travel insurance, access to airport lounges, and the ability to exchange more currencies without fees.
• Revolut Metal: CHF 18.99/month, Metal offers benefits such as higher free withdrawals, 0.1% cashback in Europe and 1% elsewhere, travel insurance, and access to airport lounges. You also receive a metal bank card.
• Revolut Ultra: 60 CHF/month, Ultra offers even more exclusive benefits, including better exchange rates, higher withdrawal limits, additional insurance, and priority access to certain Revolut services.

The Plus plan (3.99 CHF/month) is no longer available in the Swiss version of Revolut.

Revolut Plans in Switzerland

Revolut does not publish its pricing for Switzerland on its website; to access this information, you need to log in to the app on your smartphone.

Here is a comparison of the benefits between Revolut subscriptions:

The choice of your specific needs, including travel, transaction volumes, and additional services. If you are an occasional user and plan to use Revolut only in emergencies or only for domestic transfers in CHF, the Revolut Standard account is the best choice.

But if you are a more frequent user and need to frequently transfer or exchange currencies, Revolut Premium will cost you a lot less

Revolut Metal is only interesting if you travel frequently and spend more than CHF 600 outside Europe to benefit from the 1% cashback offer.

Revolut Card Fees

Revolut offers a free debit card with all plans. The Premium plan includes two cards.

The Revolut card is free when used as payment method, that means for online shopping and mobile payments. There is no fee for payment in foreign currencies and Revolut applies the Interbank exchange rates without adding any extra fee or commission.¨

Cash withdrawals are capped, then you’ll have a 2% surcharge:

• 200 CHF per month with Revolut Standard
• 400 CHF per month with Revolut Premium
• 800 CHF per month with Revolut Metal

Bank Transfers Fees in Switzerland in CHF

No fee if the main currency of your Revolut account is CHF and if you pay in CHF another account based in Switzerland.

SEPA Transfer fees in EUR

Like most neobanks, Revolut offers free SEPA transfers in EUR within the SEPA zone. You can create a SEPA payment within seconds from the app.

International SWIFT Payments Fees

With Revolut Standard you pay 3 CHF per transfer is the payment is in USD, otherwise it’s 5 CHF for any other currency.

The first transfer is free if you have Revolut Premium or Revolut Metal.

Exchange Fees on Multi-currency Transfers

With Revolut Standard, you can transfer  up 1,000 CHF each month without any fee. Then you’ll pay a surcharge of 0.5 %.

The exchange rate is based on the instant interbank rate.

Revolut Premium and Revolut Metal allow you to transfer for free an unlimited amount of money to any country supported by Revolut.

But there is a 0.5% surchage for multi-currency transfers initiated on week-ends and UK bank holidays. Revolut says that they need to cover the risk while markets are closed.

Instant Transfers

Similar to Beam with N26, you can transfer money instantly from a Revolut account to another Revolut account. That type of transfer is really instant and free. whatever the currency and the country.

See the Revolut pricing on their website.

Our Opinion on Revolut Account Fees in Switzerland

Revolut’s fees in Switzerland are flexible but can get expensive if you use it a lot. The Standard plan is free but has withdrawal and exchange limits so you’ll have to upgrade to Revolut Premium to avoid extra fees.

Revolut Metal’s extra benefits like cashback might be good for frequent travelers but the cashback is limited and not worth the monthly fee. Ultra is exclusive but too expensive for most.

In summary, Revolut’s pricing is transparent but has many limits and extra fees that add up fast. The fee structure is quite complex and compared to some Swiss neobanks not the best for frequent usage.

Revolut Customer Service Review: 6/10

When Revolut launched their app, it was easy to reach them by Chat and get quick resolution.

But Revolut has grown a lot since and the service has gone down:

• The Chat support is rarely available for Standard plan customers
• A Bot and an “online community” have been released, with objective to turn customer service into a self-service support platform, similar to what Google does for example.
• Customer support agent seems to have trained randomly and tend to copy-paste answers without understanding your actual question.

Revolut Chatbot – Rita

Revolut Chat Agent Not Available

We are not really happy with the customer support provided on Revolut Standard. On this point N26 does a lot better

Still, Revolut keeps a high score on TrustPilot : 4.5 with 66 188 reviews, but more and customers complain about support:

Revolut Trustpilot Reviews

Revolut App Customer Reviews and User Experience: 9/10

Revolut being a neobank, a lot has be done to ensure a great user experience:

• The app is fast and intuitive
• Menus are clear and well organised
• Essential features are always visible

The Revolut app is rated 4.9 on the Apple Store (31 000 reviews) and 4.5 on Google Play (740 000+ reviews)

Revolut App Store Reviews

Revolut Google Play Reviews

Revolut has built an app around multi-currency : you select your main currency then you can add new ones:

Revolut CHF Account

Revolut Multi-currency Account

Revolut Banking License and Security: 7/10

Revolut holds a banking license in the European Economic Area (EEA), regulated by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of Lithuania. This allows Revolut to offer bank-like services in the EEA with standard deposit protection up to €100,000 for customers in that region. However, Revolut operates as an e-money institution outside the EEA, including in Switzerland, where it does not hold a banking license.

In Switzerland, Revolut offers its services to residents under its e-money license, which means customer funds are safeguarded in separate accounts but do not benefit from the same deposit protection provided by traditional banks. Deposits are safeguarded but are not covered by a deposit insurance scheme like the €100,000 guarantee available to customers in the EEA.

In the UK, Revolut recently received a restricted banking license and is in the “mobilisation” phase, during which it is building out its UK banking operations. For now, UK customers continue to use Revolut’s e-money services, with funds safeguarded but not insured under the UK’s deposit protection scheme.

Revolut employs advanced security measures, including two-factor authentication (2FA) and real-time transaction notifications, to protect your account and personal information.

In summary, Revolut provides a secure digital experience with safeguarding measures for customer funds. However, without a Swiss banking license, funds for Swiss residents are not covered by deposit insurance, making it more suitable for day-to-day transactions than long-term savings.

Our Final Review of Revolut Switzerland

Revolut Switzerland is a solid option for Swiss residents looking for a neobank offering a card and multi-currency account. It stands out for its quick account opening, intuitive app, and multi-currency management, making it ideal for frequent travelers and those seeking more flexibility in managing their finances. However, Revolut faces strong competition from Swiss neobanks like Alpian, Neon, and Yuh, which offer services better suited to the local market, particularly with Swiss IBANs and specific solutions like TWINT.

Revolut excels with its premium offerings but falls behind on certain essential local features, such as e-bills and full integration with Swiss banking systems. Additionally, the limitations of the Swiss IBAN being registered to Revolut rather than the customer could be a drawback for some users.

In conclusion, Revolut Switzerland is an excellent option for users seeking a multi-currency account and innovative features, but Alpian, Neon, and Yuh are strong alternatives for those with more Swiss-centric needs.

Still have doubts? Check out our Side by Side Neobank comparison: we review important options for Switzerland (IBAN CH, transfers in CHF, TWINT) and abroad (withdrawals with the card, SEPA transfer fees, foreign currency transfers).

Yuh vs Revolut: Which is the best multi-currency account

Here’s our quick decision table for choosing between Yuh and Revolut:

To find out how each criterion is judged, read our article Yuh vs Revolut – Comparison of November 2024

Neon vs Revolut: Which is the best account for travel

Here’s our quick decision table for choosing between Neon and Revolut:

To find out how each criterion is judged, read our article Neon vs Revolut – Comparison of November 2024

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Revolut Switzerland