Safe Deposit Box in Switzerland – All you need to know

Safe Deposit Boxes

Many banks in Switzerland offer access to safe deposit boxes in their offices. You can rent one box for a given fee, usually per year. There are many sizes, ranging from tiny to huge. And of course, the larger the box, the more expensive it is to rent it.

But why would you need a safe deposit box in the first place? First, not everybody requires a safe. It is likely a niche of people that would need that. Here is what some people store in their safe deposit boxes:

• Critical documents such as notary papers, originals
• Gold coins and bars
• Expensive jewelry
• Data backups
• Cash
• A disaster file

There are probably some other uses of safe deposit boxes that I am not aware of. But you can put anything (non-illegal) inside.

So, the next question is where to get a safe deposit box?

How do safe deposit boxes work?

If you have never had a safe deposit box, it is interesting to start with how they work and you can access them.

Generally, you will get two keys for your safe deposit box. The keys are the last level of security and allow you to open the safe deposit box once you get it out of the wall.

To get the box out of the wall, you will need another level of security. These days, it is typically a card and a PIN code. Once you have scanned the card and entered the PIN, the wall slot will open, and you can open your safe deposit with your key.

In some cases, your identity may be checked on entrance to the safe. But I am not sure if this is very common.

In most cases, you can only access the safe during business hours of the bank. However, sometimes, there are some automated systems that let you access the bank at any time of the day. This is probably something you want to check out before choosing a bank.

Bank or non-banks?

Originally, only banks offered safe deposit boxes. But these days, there are many private companies also offer safe deposit boxes in major cities in Switzerland.

The main issue with a bank is that you also require a bank account before you can open a safe deposit. If you only want the box, you will have an entirely useless account. And in some cases, you will even have to pay for this account (adding extra fees on top of the box itself). For a private company, this is obviously not the case.

Another advantage is that private companies do not have to obey the same regulations as banks. As such, it may be easier for a non-resident to get a safe deposit box. On the other hand, banks for non-residents are really limited.

Another difference is that you can generally get insurance on the contents of your safe deposit box with a private company, while a bank will not do that.

However, there are two main disadvantages to non-bank solutions. First, there are much fewer of them than banks. If you live in a large city like Geneva or Zurich, you will have plenty of options. However, if you are living in or near a small city, like Fribourg, you are out of luck.

The other disadvantage of private companies is that their safe deposit boxes are usually significantly pricier than the ones offered by banks.

For me, the main advantage of a private solution is to not require a bank account. You will have to decide whether that is worth the costs.

Safe deposit boxes and insurance

There is one thing that is essential to note: the content of a safe is not always insured.

In case of bankruptcy of the bank, you should be fully protected because the safe is in your name, and you should be able to access it after the bankruptcy. However, this may be blocked for a while the liquidators figure out what to do.

In the case of a natural disaster that would destroy your safe content (landslide, fire or earthquakes, for instance), you are unlikely to get back your valuables. In this case, the bank can generally say they are not at fault. However, if the fire is their fault, then they would be at fault, and you should be able to get back your money.

If the bank is robbed, the bank should be at fault again and you should be good.

Of course, even if the bank is at fault, they may not want to reimburse you. You will have to claim back the value of the safe deposit box in this case. For that, you will need proof of what is inside the safe. If you can take a picture of the contents of the safe, that will be best. And you will also likely need bills for the items that you need to value. With that, you should have enough documentation to claim a reimbursement.

What about a safe at home?

Some people prefer to opt for having a safe at home. This can be much cheaper, but there are some significant limitations to this approach.

First, it is critical to note that if your safe is not solidly screwed to the wall, your safe is pointless because burglars will simply take it with them and open it later.

Then, it is also essential to note that cheap safes you can buy are easy to open. If you buy a safe in a supermarket or a cheap online, any good thief can open in a few minutes (sometimes seconds). And even if they cannot open it, a circular saw will generally get the job done.

And finally, one important thing is that many of these cheap safes are not fireproof. This means that if your house burns down, you will have lost everything.

So, if you want a safe at home, you should opt for a professional safe. Otherwise, you are better off leaving your belongings simply in your closet, it will be cheaper.

Our safe deposit box

Since I am talking about safe deposit boxes, I should talk about what is in our safe deposit box.

We currently have a safe deposit box with the Freiburger Kantonalbank. We pay about a 100 CHF per year between the bank fees and the safe rental. This is not a great solution, but there are no great solutions in Fribourg. The main issue is that we are forced to have an account with them, for the sole purpose of having a safe.

I would have preferred a solution with a bank I already have. But Migros Bank does not have safe deposit boxes in Fribourg. I would even prefer a safe with a non-bank entity, but there are none I could find in Fribourg.

We do not have much in our safe, but there are two things I consider important there. First, we have a copy of our disaster file there. And we also have a backup physical security key which protects my password manager. So, if our house burns down, these two together can be used to access everything. And finally, but much less essential, we also have a few gold coins.

In the future, I hope to find a cheaper alternative or at least one that does not bind me to a bank. But that seems unlikely in Fribourg.

How much do they cost?

Unfortunately, I cannot tell you which is the best bank for safe deposit boxes. This will vary in each city. Therefore, depending on where you live, you will have different options. Then, this also highly depend on the size of your box, which varies based on your needs. The price for safe deposit boxes is not always published online, many banks have it on demand only. Finally, this also varies based on whether you already have a bank account with the bank or not.

Generally, the smallest deposit boxes can be found for something between 60 CHF and 200 CHF per year. Here are some examples in Fribourg:

• Raiffeisen 100 CHF per year
  • Available 24/7
  • Only available to active clients (need monthly income deposited)
• BCF 60 CHF per year
• Migros Bank 86 CHF per year
  • Not available anymore at the new location and old location is getting emptied
• Credit Suisse: 200 CHF per year

As you can see, the choice is pretty limited for us. In a large city, you would get many more choices, but the price range is mainly the same.

Conclusion

A safe deposit box can be a suitable solution to protect some of your valuables against destruction or theft. However, these boxes are not free and are not always convenient. You could use them to store documents you want to protect or valuables you would rather not keep at home.

In the past, many people used safe deposit boxes to avoid negative interest rates. These days, it does not make sense anymore since you get some interest rate in a savings account but not in a safe deposit boxes. And while there is a level of secrecy with safe deposit boxes, they should not be used to hide things either.

I find safe deposit boxes to be a practical option to protect some documents and hardware in case our house gets destroyed. But so far, I have not found a perfect solution because I have to maintain a bank account with a bank only to get a box.

What about you? Do you use a safe deposit box?

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