Radicant Review 2025 – Pros & Cons
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(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links)
Radicant is a new digital bank with banking and investment features. It is a subsidiary of Basel Land Kantonal Bank and aims to be the most sustainable digital bank in Switzerland.
In this review, we will see precisely what is Radicant and how it compares with similar offers. By the end of this review, you will know whether you should use Radicant.
| Monthly fee | 0 CHF |
|---|---|
| Users | N/A |
| Card | Virtual or Physical Visa Debit |
| Currencies | CHF |
| Withdrawals in Switzerland | 12 Free per year, then 2 CHF |
| Withdrawals abroad | 2 CHF |
| Currency exchange fee | 0.00% |
| Investing fees | 0.90% – 1.30% |
| Languages | English, and German |
| Custody bank | Radicant |
| Depositor protection | 100’000 CHF |
| Established | 2023 |
| Headquarters | Zürich, Switzerland |
Radicant
Radicant was created as a subsidiary of the Basel Land Kantonal Bank (BLKB). However, they act independently. In 2023, Radicant got a banking license from FINMA.
A beta was launched in March 2023. In August 2023, the app was launched to the public.
Radicant is only available as a mobile app on Android and iPhone. They claim they are 100% in the cloud (in Google Cloud, Zurich, with a backup in Frankfurt). They want to break even by 2026.
Currently, the app is only available in German and English. You need to be a Swiss resident to open an account. And the account opening is limited to some citizenships (mostly in Europe).
So, let’s see what features and fees this new digital bank account offers its users.
Banking Features
First, we should look at the banking features.
Radicant offers all the essential features that each bank account provides:
- Receive money.
- Send money to other bank accounts.
- Pay bills (QR bills and standard transfers).
- View the balance of your account.
- View the transactions from your account.
On top of that, the rest of the features are focused on mobile banking:
- Google Pay
- Apple Pay
- TWINT (with their own app)
In November 2023, they added support for e-bills.
As of December 2024, Radicant added support for EUR. You can get a secondary EUR account with its own IBAN. With that, you can do SEPA transfers in EUR. On the other hand, you cannot do transfer in other currencies than EUR and CHF.
It is interesting to note that this account does not come with a physical card by default. Since they focus on sustainability, the account comes with a virtual Visa debit card. However, you can order a physical Visa debit card, which will be made of recycled plastic.
Radicant interest rate is 0.1% (as of April 2025). You get this on your entire account, there is no need to create a savings account for this.
It is also probably worth noting that some cash deposited at this bank will be invested in green bonds. The idea is that your deposits will support sustainable projects worldwide. Moreover, they will restore 1 square meter of mangrove in Kenya whenever you spend 500 CHF with the card.
You also get a carbon footprint tracker as a small utility. It is not useful for me since it can only track a portion of your expenses. But it is a start, and some people may like these features.
Radicant proposes all the features most people need in a bank account. However, some people may be blocked by not having international transfers.
Investing features
Radicant offers investing features as well, directly from the app.
Radicant focuses solely on sustainable investing. Interestingly, they are using different factors than other companies. Instead of using the standard ESG criteria, Radicant uses Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as criteria. These criteria are developed by the United Nations (UN). There are 17 SDGs as of this day. Here are a few examples:
- Gender Equality
- Child Health
- Zero Hunger
- Sustainable cities
- Peace
To make sure their investment products are following these goals accurately, Radicant has developed its own products. These funds are managed by Radicant and issued by other banks, such as the Zurcher Kantonal Bank (ZKB). Currently, they have eight investment products, covering up to 3 SDGs for each fund. Here are a few examples again:
- Societal Progress
- Gender Equality
- Healthy Ecosystems
On top of that, portfolios also invest in wider funds managed by Radicant:
- Global Sustainable Equities
- Global Sustainable Bonds
- Swiss Sustainable Equities
Interestingly, they are only using their own funds.
Portfolios are made based on your impact and investment focuses. You can choose whether to focus on the world or Switzerland. Based on your risk profile, you will be assigned one of five strategies:
- Cautious: 20% stocks
- Conservative: 40% stocks
- Balanced: 60% stocks
- Dynamic: 80% stocks
- Growth: 98% stocks
Investing up to 98% in stocks is a great thing. And you can start to invest with a minimum of 1000 CHF.
If you are investing in their offer, you may then be part of their Saveback program:
- If you have more than 10’000 CHF and invest more than 1000 CHF per month, you will get back 1% on your eligible debit card transactions.
- If you have more than 1’000 CHF and invest more than 150 CHF per month, you will get back 0.25% on your eligible debit card transactions.
The cashback is credited to your investment portfolio. You will only get cashback on spending below 2000 CHF per month and all transactions that are cash transfers are not eligible (TWINT and PayPal for instance).
Overall, the investing features are good. Since they only focus on sustainable investment, these features are only suited for investors who want to focus on sustainable investing. The SDGs also look a bit too complicated, but they also seem more ambitious than simple ESG goals.
These features make Radicant work like a Robo-advisor, not a broker. This is important because many banks will act like brokers, but not Robo-advisors. It is probably closer to a hybrid Robo-advisor because the funds themselves are actively managed. So, this is a Robo-advisor on top of actively managed funds.
Banking fees
The fees for the banking features of Radicant are pretty simple.
The good thing is that there are no base management fees. So, you will not pay anything to keep your account open. Paying your bills and doing bank transfers in Switzerland is free, as is mobile payment in CHF in Switzerland.
If you want the physical Visa debit card, you must pay 10 CHF.
If you want to withdraw CHF, you get 12 free annual withdrawals in Switzerland. After this, you will pay 2 CHF per CHF withdrawal in Switzerland. If you withdraw abroad, you will pay 2 CHF, and if you withdraw EUR in Switzerland, you will pay 5 CHF.
If you pay abroad or in foreign currencies with your card (virtual or physical), Radicant will use the interbank exchange rate. This is as good as it gets. On top of it, Radicant has no surcharge. This is an excellent exchange rate for the card!
On the other hand, if you do a currency conversion within your account (CHF to EUR), you will pay 0.90%. This is average within Swiss banks. But I wished they did better.
These fees are mostly great! I just wish they did a little better for currency transfers.
Investing fees
We can now look at the investing fees of Radicant.
Radicant has a management fee based on the invested amount:
- 0.90% per year from 1000 CHF to 24’999 CHF
- 0.80% per year from 25’000 CHF to 99’999 CHF
- 0.65% per year from 100’000 CHF to 249’999 CHF
- 0.50% per year from 250’000 CHF
Moreover, we must add the product costs. Based on your portfolio, these will vary from 0.40% to 0.47%. It is worth mentioning that stamp duty is included in the management fee, contrary to many Robo-advisors.
For their launch, they offer a 50% discount on the account fees if you invest until the end of December 2024. This only reduces the management fee, not the product costs. In January 2025, they plan new fees.
Here is a summary of all the total fees, with and without the discount:
| Portfolio | Total Fee without discount | Total Fee with discount |
|---|---|---|
| 1’000 to 24’999 | 1.30% – 1.37% | 0.85% – 0.92% |
| 25’000 to 99’999 | 1.20% – 1.27% | 0.80% – 0.87% |
| 100’000 to 249’999 | 1.05% – 1.12% | 0.725% – 0.795% |
| From 250’000 | 0.90% – 0.97% | 0.65% – 0.72% |
Overall, I feel like the fees with the discount are good for a Robo-advisor investing sustainably. However, the fees without discount are pretty high. There are many cheaper alternatives, even for sustainable investing.
The good thing about these fees is that they are very transparent and simple.
Alternatives
We should look at some alternatives and compare them with Radicant. It is difficult to compare since Radicant is both a bank and a Robo-advisor. Since I do not know any other service that does both, we will compare it with a bank and a Robo-advisor.
Radicant vs Neon
All the services you need to pay, save and invest, in a neat package, with extremely good prices!
Use code thepoorswiss to receive up to 100 CHF in trading credits!
- Pay abroad for free
- Invest with great fees
First, we can compare Radicant with Neon, another digital bank account.
Both bank accounts are free of any monthly charge. And all the basic features are free.
However, Radicant has an advantage when spending abroad or in foreign currencies. Indeed, Neon will offer the Mastercard exchange rate with a small surcharge. This makes about 0.75% total markup against no markup for Radicant. This makes Radicant significantly cheaper for use abroad.
Neon has the advantage of partnering with Wise to make outgoing transfers in foreign currencies. On the other hand, Radicant does not even support international transfers.
Neon also offers investing services, but as a broker, not as a Robo-advisor, so comparing them does not make sense.
Overall, both Radicant and Neon are great as bank accounts. They both have advantages and disadvantages and will offer a nice bank account. Looking at fees, Radicant is better.
Radicant vs Inyova
A very good Robo-Advisor, with a strong focus on impact investing and sustainable investments.
- Very sustainable
- Affordable for large portfolios
We can also compare Radicant and Inyova, another Robo-advisor focusing on sustainability.
As far as I know, Inyova is the most sustainable Robo-advisor available in Switzerland. It makes it a suitable candidate for comparison with Radicant.
They have different approaches to sustainability. Inyova focuses on impact investing with a focus on both the handprint and footprint of companies. Radicant focuses on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. I cannot say which is the most sustainable. They are probably on the same level.
One significant difference is that Inyova uses single shares they picked, while Radicant uses managed funds. This allows a greater level of customization for Inyova’s portfolio.
Inyova has the following management fee based on the invested value:
- Below 50’000 CHF: 1.2% annual fee
- Between 50’000 and 150’000 CHF: 1.1% annual fee
- Between 150’000 and 500’000 CHF: 1.0% annual fee
- Above 500’000 CHF: 0.9% annual fee
Since Inyova invests in single stocks, there is no extra product cost.
Both services have around the same fees, with a slight advantage for Inyova.
Given that Inyova is a more established Robo-advisor and its fees are better generally, I would recommend Inyova. Radicant may be interesting if you are especially interested in UN SDGs and can get discounted fees.
FAQ
What is the minimum amount to invest with Radicant?
The minimum is 1000 CHF.
Is Radicant a broker?
No, they have investing features like Robo-advisor, but you cannot choose your shares.
How much does it cost to pay abroad with Radicant?
You should not have to pay any fees for paying abroad or in foreign currencies. Radicant uses the interbank exchange rate.
Who is Radicant good for?
Radicant is quite nice if you want a very cheap bank account, especially to use abroad. And it is among the most sustainable options for banking and investing.
Who is Radicant not good for?
Radicant is not great if you want the cheapest bank Robo-advisor.
Summary
Radicant
Radicant is a digital bank with Robo-advisor features, focusing on sustainability.
Product Brand: Radicant
3.5
Pros
- Transparent pricing
- No monthly management fee for the bank account
- Good discount for starting
- Deep focus on sustainability
- Excellent for paying abroad
- Uses the interbank exchange rate
- Good interest rate
Cons
- Expensive investing fees without the discount
- Can only invest sustainably
- Limited choices for investing
- No support for international transfers
Conclusion
Overall, it is good to see a new digital bank account with a strong focus on sustainability. It is also interesting to see that it does not focus on ESG but on the UN Sustainable Development Goals instead. The fact that they use actively managed funds makes them different from other Robo-advisors.
Thanks to using the interbank exchange rate, Radicant is an excellent bank account. Using it abroad and in Switzerland is very cheap.
As a Robo-advisor, it does not offer many advantages over other services. Compared with a sustainable Robo-advisor, it does not provide a significant advantage. And when compared with a cheap Robo-advisor, its fees are not good enough. However, it will be more sustainable than most Robo-advisors.
If you are looking for outstanding digital bank accounts or Robo-advisors, you can read these two reviews:
What do you think about this new product? Where do you think it fits in the current market?
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Only citizens from a specific list of about 30 countries can open an account. Radicant has this major drawback compared to Revolur and Neon
True, but this list contains most citizenships from Europe, so it’s not too bad.
It seems to me that if it is only to use it as a debit card alternative to Revolut, it is better that Neon as it doesn’t have any extra fees on the puchases abroad.
Hi Leonard
From a point mathematical point of view, you are right indeed!
What advantage does neon have over radicant? I don’t really see any
I think that’s what Leonard was saying as well.
However, there are still some advantages. Neon has a joint account and supports international transfers. And I prefer the Neon investing feature over Radicant’s, but of course that’s only relevant if you are going to use them as more than bank.
ah okay…I maybe misunderstood the comment.
Agree on the joint account, however it’s not free.
While it’s more convenient to use Neon for it, you can just use your Wise account and save 0.4%. Of course you need your own Wise account and do the transfer over to Wise first…it’s a bit cumbersome
True if you use your Neo Bank for investing, Neon might be better. However, I would not use any of them for that.
Long story short, depends what you use it and what person you are. If you want to have a single account to do it all and have it simple, then Neon has an edge. And that’s probably more than I think and hence why they are so successful.
Btw: with Revolut now entering properly the Swiss market and you get a Swiss IBAN, might be a good thing to review them again.
Yes, that’s why they call it a convenience fee :) You can save it but then you need two accounts and most people prefer to avoid having too many accounts.
Neon has the immense advantage of being first. Now they have to consolidate that position and it’s going to be difficult indeed.
I have not heard about Revolut entering the Swiss market properly, do you have a source for that?
Hey @Ralph, can you elaborate on the Revolut Swiss IBAN please? I don’t see anything like that in their webpage
@Manu
I think it’s not yet fully ready, but see below information on their help page. But more so the article from handelszeitung. Very interesting
https://help.revolut.com/en-CH/help/transfers/inbound-transfers/how-to-receive-money-from-another-bank/what-account-details-should-i-use-to-transfer-money-to-my-revolut-account/help-with-swiss-iban/
https://www.handelszeitung.ch/unternehmen/revolut-greift-in-der-schweiz-mit-lohnkonti-und-aktienhandel-an-762890
The article is not entirely on whether you get a unique IBAN for you or not. If you do AND if you are insured with Esisuisse (we currently are not), it will become interesting as a main account indeed.
The way I read it, instead of UK account number you get a swiss IBAN
Anstelle einer britischen Kontonummer erhält die Kundschaft neu eine schweizerische Iban-Nummer.
Another article says new users already get a swiss IBAN..maybe I should open an account
https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/revolut-smartphone-bank-will-hausbank-fuer-schweizer-werden-615533319929
Die Infrastruktur dafür kommt von der Postfinance. Neukunden bekommen bereits eine Schweizer IBAN, Bestandskunden werden ab Mitte des Quartals schrittweise umgestellt
Also another article
https://www.inside-it.ch/revolut-arbeitet-mit-postfinance-zusammen-20241029
Let’s see when revolut communicates something official
Thanks for sharing the details. This is definitely worth looking into.
I know we are getting a bit off topic now. But just wanted to let you know that I opened an account. Took me only like 3min. And my account has a Swiss IBAN and it’s associated to postfinance. That is great news I guess
Thanks for sharing! We can continue the discussion on the forum.
Only citizens from 30ish countries are allowed to open and account, as of October 30, 2024
Indeed, I should mention this in the article.
Hi Baptiste,
Based on my understanding you currently have a two card strategy with Neon for purchases abroad and you don’t use Neon for investing. Why do you not choose to substitute Neon with Radicant if Radicant is cheaper for payments abroad and offers more interest?
Best regards,
Gian
Hi Gian
Correct, I use Neon abroad and Certo in Switzerland.
The gap between Neon and Radicant is quite small. I would save about 0.4% on my purchases abroad and have a little more interest rate, but I don’t care about interest rate since I keep very little in cash.
On top of that, we have the Neon joint account, so we would lose that by using Radicant, not worth it for me :)
Hi Babtiste,
Thanks for your prompt answer.
So for someone who has neither Neon nor Radicant yet and who doesn’t need the joint account, would you recommend Radicant then or are there other reasons for Neon that I don’t see?
One slight advantage of Neon if you use it is that they offer cheap bank transfers abroad with Wise.
Also, Neon is much more mature now.
Other than that, Radicant has the advantage of exchange rate abroad like you said.
So, it’s really up to you :)
Only citizens from some specific countries (most in Europe) are allowed to open an account as of now (August 28, 2024).
The list of available countries can (only) be found by downloading the app and check the information there,
It would be better if Radicant expands the list in the near future.
Hi Albert
Interesting, I did not know about this. This is indeed not clear on their website. I will ask them the list.
One thing I noticed around TWINT is that they are not all equal. My Raiffeisen TWINT allows me to add a credit card instead of my bank account. However, Radicant TWINT only allows me to use my bank account
Yes, each TWINT app is slightly different. It is a bit of a jungle.
Hey Baptiste, radicant uses from today on the interbank exchange rate without any additional fee, which makes it the best Prepaid-Credit Card available for foreign currency purchases. So that means radicant beats, Revolut, Neon and Alpian+.
Ignore the „study“, but the statement that they use the plain interbank exchange rate without any surcharge is the keypoint:
https://www.radicant.com/blog/knowledge-hub/comparative-analysis-of-foreign-exchange-rates-with-swiss-debit-and-credit-cards/
Thanks for sharing, I will have to update the article.
I am not convinced they have an interbank exchange rate since they use Visa. On average, Visa is slightly worse than Mastercard for that. I will need to research it more.
I was aslo thinking they will just fool us and use the Visa rference rate, but several times on their pages they state things like this:
„The mid-market rate is the average between the buy and sell prices of two currencies in the foreign exchange market. When banks or transfer services trade, they are using the mid-market rate as the fairest exchange rate. The mid-market is rarely applied for end-clients, but with radicant it is. “
So, I am quite optimistic now.
Interesting indeed. And this is consistent with their example. However, we should still be careful because they did their analysis on a single day, so not really strong evidence.
I have now been using it a few times and the exchange rate is true. I can only compare against yapeal which uses visa. Found radicant slightly better. However yapeal uses the rate when you did your purchase and not one for the whole day. Depending how the currency fluctuates it’s harder to compare. But we talk about peanuts. I like the speediness of yapeal more.
I don’t see why it would not be a good banking option. It’s free and great exchange rate, good interest rate.
Thanks for sharing your results!
Could you define “slightly cheaper” so that we have a good idea?
Hi Baptist
I do like Yapeal more from the App perspective, it’s more real-time, exchange rate is at the time of purchase (at least more or less) vs a daily exchange rate with Radicant. It can go both sides of course. But Yapeal free banking is really not giving enough so I only used it for payment abroad or in foreign currencies. Or in other words, don’t see anymore the value really vs Radicant which gives me a full banking experience and decent interest rate or CHF.
Exchange rate PLN – CHF
Yapeal
July 2, 13:26: 0.2269697
July 2, 11.19: 0.2270308
July 1, 10:24: 0.2245561
July 1, 10:17: 0.2245707
July 1, 09:50: 0.2247059
Radicant
July 2: 0.22629437
July 1: 0.22556442
As you can see on July 1 Yapeal was cheaper but on July 2 Radicant was cheaper. I guess this is simply fluctuation during the day. Again, peanuts to be honest vs the robbery from our credit card issuers.
I would be keen to have that compared to Mastercard from Neon for example.
Thanks a lot for sharing your results and thoughts!
Interesting email I just got from Radicant claiming to be cheaper than anyone else. Not sure if the image link works.
https://image.email.radicant.com/lib/fe331171756404757c1574/m/1/0dc0bdb1-9cdd-4622-8a93-881d8a033e21.png
I also thought that the exchange rate was better than google, but so was Yapeal and probably others. Let’s take that with a pinch of salt.
Yes, offering the interbank exchange directly means they are at the best level they can offer.
Side note from Radicant. Hence hard to compare I guess. Also allows for more creative comparisons. :-)
Please note that some banks apply the exchange rate at the moment of the payment while others like radicant apply the rate when the transaction is fully booked (which means 1 to 2 days later).
With that said, they also refer to the below two links.
https://www.radicant.com/blog/knowledge-hub/comparative-analysis-of-foreign-exchange-rates-with-swiss-debit-and-credit-cards/?utm_source=salesforce&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=travelling-with-radicant-fx-fees
https://www.handelszeitung.ch/unternehmen/bei-der-falschen-bank-wird-das-feriengeld-schnell-teuer-719739
Baptiste, I’d like to use your Radicant code to reward you for your great content. Could you provide it to me?
Hi Ricardo
Thanks, but I do not have any Radicant code.
Is CEA webpage in English? Just to check their conditions
No, they are not even available in German, only in French.
For me, the 1% interest on my Account balance could make it interesting as an account for my emergency funds. In principle, i could get similar returns with Neon Spaces too at 0.9%.
Hi Rasta,
Yes, some interest rate is good on your emergency fund. I personally use Neon Spaces for that. But there are better places, such as willbe at 1.55%. And some banks are offering up to 2% these days if you transfer money from another bank.
Interesting, what are the options for >1% interest banks?
CEA is at 2% I believe, willbe at 1.55% and I thougth I saw something from UBS offering 2% but only from money from other banks.