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Bank WIR Bankpaket top Review 2026 – Pros & Cons

Baptiste Wicht | Updated: |
WIR Bank Top Review

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links)

In 2024, the Bank WIR introduced a new banking package, Bank WIR Bankpaket top. This bank account has some interesting conditions, such as using the interbank exchange rate for currency conversions abroad.

So, in this article, we will see what this top banking package is all about. And we will see the advantages and disadvantages of this offer. Finally, we will also compare Bank WIR Bankpaket top against other alternatives.

By the end of this review, you should know whether Bank WIR Bankpaket top is a good banking package for you.

About Bank WIR Bankpaket top
Monthly fee 0 CHF
Users N/A
Card Mastercard Debit
Currencies CHF
Withdrawals in Switzerland 24 free per year, then 2 CHF
Withdrawals abroad 24 free per year, then 2 CHF
Languages French, German, and Italian
Custody bank WIR Bank
Depositor protection 100’000 CHF
Established 1934
Headquarters Basel, Switzerland

Bank WIR

Best primary bank account
Bank WIR Bankpaket Top
5.0

Bank WIR Bankpaket top is an excellent banking package without fees from a reputable bank.

Use our link to receive 50 CHF when you open an account.

Pros:
  • Interbank exchange rate
Open a new account
You need to deposit 250 CHF in the first 30 days to get the bonus on your account.

Before we delve into the new banking package, we can look at the bank WIR itself.

Bank WIR is a cooperative bank, founded in 1934 in Basel. The bank manages about 5 billion CHF in assets. They have nine offices and employ about 250 employees.

Bank WIR is unique in that it has its own currency, the WIR Franc. This was introduced after the great depression to avoid some monetary issues of the time. This currency is backed by the bank and is officially on a price parity with the CHF (although it often sells for less). But you can use the Bank WIR without having to worry about the WIR Franc and focus only on the CHF.

I have not really discussed WIR before, except for mentioning that they are the custodian bank of the VIAC third pillar.

Bank WIR Bankpaket top Features

4.5/5

Now that we have introduced the bank itself, we can introduce the Bank WIR Bankpaket top banking package.

This digital banking package is available from the e-banking package from the Bank WIR and from the mobile application. It is good to note that this banking package is also accessible from a proper e-banking platform. Most digital banks are only available on smartphones. The only downside is that you still need your phone as a second factor for the online e-banking. I wish they were more flexible and allowed some stronger and more practical options like a YubiKey or a passkey.

Inside the banking package, you get:

  • A private bank account, without any withdrawal limits.
  • A Debit Mastercard.

From your account, you can pay your bills and transfer money around. You can, of course, manage your account as well. And you can use your card to pay worldwide. The e-banking platform has support for e-bills. It is worth noting that they have a full integration of e-bills. Indeed, you can validate the bills in the app without jumping on the browser.

There is no interest rate on the private account. It should really be as a payment account, not as a place to hold cash.

In February 2025, Bank WIR added TWINT support for their Bank WIR Bankpaket top package.  Additionally, you can use your card with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay.

The application is available in the three national languages, but not in English.

Only a few months after the introduction of the package, Bank WIR added support for joint accounts with the Bank WIR Bankpaket top package. So, you will get two cards and two accesses to e-banking.

Onboarding can be done entirely online! This is great because most traditional banks are still very old-school and require snail mail or in person attendance to create an account.

Overall, this banking package has all the standard features of a banking package in Switzerland, but nothing more.

Fees

5/5

The fees are really where this banking package becomes interesting.

The WIR Top banking package itself is free. There are no monthly or yearly fees for the account or the card. The card will also be delivered for free.

All usual operations like paying bills and transferring money are free, like for every bank.

With the card, you get 24 withdrawals for free per year. Then you will pay 2 CHF per withdrawal. What is really exciting is that these 24 withdrawals are free in the world, not only in Switzerland. Bank WIR Bankpaket top is the only card I know that offers free withdrawals abroad.

This card is also outstanding to use to pay abroad or in foreign currencies. Indeed, the card offers the interbank exchange rate without any surcharge. This is as good as it gets.

If you do a transfer in EUR in the SEPA region or in Switzerland, you will not pay any fee. However, if you do a transfer outside this region or in another currency, you will pay 5 CHF per transfer. In both cases, WIR will use its exchange rate. Currently, it looks like they have a surcharge of 1% on the interbank exchange rate for these transfers. This is already not too bad for a Swiss bank.

So, overall, the fees of the Bank WIR Bankpaket top package are excellent!

Conditions

4/5

If you want to use the Bank WIR Bankpaket top banking package, you need to meet one of these conditions:

  1. Have a regular income of at least 1500 CHF paid to your account each month.
  2. Have at least 20,000 CHF in retirement funds with WIR.
  3. Have a mortgage of at least 300,000 CHF with WIR.
  4. Buy a social share of WIR Bank. A share costs 200 CHF. However, if you leave WIR Bank, they will only buy it back for 20 CHF. So this is the same as a 180 CHF fee.

For a primary account, it should not be difficult to meet at least one of these conditions, especially the first or the last one. Nevertheless, if you do not meet any of these conditions, you will not be able to use this package.

Unfortunately, for a secondary account, it is not as good. If you want to use Bank WIR Bankpaket top mostly for using it abroad, meeting any of the conditions is inconvenient.

Overall, these conditions make Bank WIR Bankpaket top only good for primary bank accounts.

Onboarding

4.5/5

Onboarding is basic. You can do everything online, and then they will send you the cards and passwords by mail.

We have onboarded for a joint account in our case. The procedure was really simple:

  1. I created an account with all our information on my phone.
  2. I did the usual identity checks, all on my phone
  3. Then, my wife received an invitation to do the same on her own.
  4. Once both applications were complete, the process was done, and we only had to wait for the mail.

Overall, it was quite smooth. We had one small hiccup for a name that could not be verified automatically, but that was handled by a human. And it is unfortunately often the case for my wife.

So, overall, I would say that onboarding is quite smooth. But you will have to wait for the mail to arrive before you can use your account in the app.

Privacy

3/5

Some of my readers brought up an interesting point about Bank WIR general conditions. If you read them closely, you will see an interesting clause (in A.1.3). This clause states (translated from French, the conditions are not in English): The client fully waives the protection of banking secrecy. These conditions are for all Bank WIR products, not only Bank WIR Bankpaket top.

This means that if you are using Bank WIR Bankpaket top, you will renounce banking secrecy, which is rather uncommon in Switzerland. This likely comes from the fact that Bank WIR also has its own currency that is used as a means of exchange between companies. But still, it creates a significant condition for users.

User Reviews

4.5/5

It is important to look at what users think about the bank.

Unfortunately, there are very few online reviews of Bank WIR in general, and I could not find any that are specific to Bank WIR Bankpaket top. There is only a single review of Bank WIR on Trustpilot.

There are only 15 reviews of the Bank WIR app on the Apple Store, with an average rating of 4.3 out of 5. Good reviews say that the app is easy to use. And there is one bad review pointing to technical difficulties.

There are only 14 reviews of the app on the Play Store, with 4.4 out of 5 ratings. But there are no written reviews.

Overall, we cannot draw any conclusions on the bank or the apps from these reviews. And this shows a disadvantage about WIR Bank: there are very few users. It does not mean the bank is bad, but it means that they may not able to scale, or that things may change quickly.

Alternatives

We should also compare Bank WIR Bankpaket top against some alternatives, both digital and traditional banks.

Bank WIR Bankpaket top vs Neon

Great App to Pay, Save and Invest
Neon
4.5

All the services you need to pay, save and invest, in a neat package, with extremely good prices!

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Pros:
  • Invest with great fees
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We can continue by comparing the Bank WIR Bankpaket top package with Neon.

Neon is a fully digital bank, with only a mobile application. The Bank WIR Bankpaket top is accessible from both e-banking and mobile banking and in the offices as well.

Both accounts are free. However, Bank WIR also offers some free withdrawals abroad, while you must pay for each withdrawal with Neon. Furthermore, Bank WIR Bankpaket top offers the interbank exchange rate for currency conversions, while Neon uses the Mastercard exchange rate plus a surcharge for a total of 0.75%. Therefore, Bank WIR is cheaper than Neon.

Neon has some further features, like spaces and instant transfers to other users. However, these features are only useful if you use them, so you should only consider these criteria if you are going to use this feature.

One advantage of Neon is that they are partnering with Wise for sending money abroad. In this case, this will be significantly cheaper than WIR. But again, not everybody does transfers in foreign currencies.

Bank WIR has better support for TWINT since they have their app, while Neon relies on apps from other providers. And WIR also has the advantage of an e-banking system.

Overall, Bank WIR Bankpaket top is a better primary bank account than Neon. If you often use the card abroad, you will save money with WIR. If you are looking for a secondary account, Neon remains better because of the conditions on Bank WIR Bankpaket top accounts.

Bank WIR Bankpaket top vs Migros Bank

Migros Bank used to be my main bank account. We can also compare Bank WIR Bankpaket top against Migros Bank.

Both are traditional banks, so you can use them in offices, online, and on the phone. One advantage of Bank WIR is that they have true e-banking online, while Migros has bad apps that are difficult to work with on the computer.

Both accounts are entirely free. With Migros Bank, you can withdraw money for free in many Migros places. With WIR Bank, you can withdraw 24 times for free per year. The advantage of Bank WIR is that you can also withdraw for free abroad, while it would be expensive with Migros.

A huge advantage of Bank WIR is that there are no surcharges or fees while using the card abroad. Migros Bank would be expensive (around 5%) to use abroad.

Both banks have a TWINT app.

Overall, the Bank WIR Bankpaket top package is a better bank account than the Migros Bank account. They have the same features, but Bank WIR Bankpaket top is much better to use abroad.

Bank WIR Bankpaket top FAQ

Who is Bank WIR Bankpaket top good for?

The Bank WIR Bankpaket top banking package is good for people who want a free bank account with great conditions to use the card abroad.

Who is Bank WIR Bankpaket top not good for?

The Bank WIR Bankpaket top banking package is not good if you do not want to use a small bank.

Can you use TWINT with Bank WIR Bankpaket top?

Yes, Bank WIR Bankpaket top provides its own TWINT app.

Bank WIR Bankpaket top Summary

4.5/5
Bank WIR Bankpaket top

The Bank WIR Bankpaket top banking package is a nice banking package by WIR Banka, with great support abroad.

Editor's Rating:
4.5

Bank WIR Bankpaket top Pros

Let's summarize the main advantages of Bank WIR Bankpaket top:

  • Interbank exchange rate with the card
  • No monthly fees
  • Support of ebills
  • Support for joint accounts
  • Support for TWINT
  • Online ebanking access

Bank WIR Bankpaket top Cons

Let's summarize the main disadvantages of Bank WIR Bankpaket top:

  • Strict account conditions
  • No banking secrecy
  • Need the phone to access the online e-banking

Conclusion

Best primary bank account
Bank WIR Bankpaket Top
5.0

Bank WIR Bankpaket top is an excellent banking package without fees from a reputable bank.

Use our link to receive 50 CHF when you open an account.

Pros:
  • Interbank exchange rate
Open a new account
You need to deposit 250 CHF in the first 30 days to get the bonus on your account.

Overall, the new Bank WIR Bankpaket top is the best primary bank account in Switzerland. The fact that they offer the interbank exchange out of a free bank account is excellent.

Until recently, it was often ideal to use two bank accounts, one for paying bills and one for paying abroad. But now, we have great options to use as a main bank account, with good support both in Switzerland and abroad.

Currently, it looks like this is among the best banking packages available. After a few months, we decided to make it our primary joint account. This will allow us to simplify our banking and use a single bank account instead of two. I currently consider Bank WIR Bankpaket top as the best joint account in Switzerland.

You may also be wondering how Bank WIR is going to make money with this bank account. Like most banks, they will not make much money on the bank account itself but on the other products. Like all banks, Bank WIR also has many other services like 3a, investments, and mortgages. And these services are where they make money.

One disadvantage is that it is not great for use as a secondary bank account since it has conditions to use. These conditions are fine for a primary bank account but definitely not ideal for a secondary bank account.

If you are looking for other digital packages by traditional banks, you should read about Valiant Lilac. It is an interesting banking package by Valiant.

What about you? What do you think about this banking package?

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Baptiste Wicht started The Poor Swiss in 2017. He realized he was falling into the trap of lifestyle inflation. He decided to cut his expenses and increase his income. Since 2019, he has been saving more than 50% of his income every year. He made it a goal to reach Financial Independence and help Swiss people with their finances.
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52 thoughts on “Bank WIR Bankpaket top Review 2026 – Pros & Cons”

  1. About the Privacy concern, Gemini are saying:

    “That is an interesting catch, but here is some context on why that clause is there and how it compares to other banks:First, because violating banking secrecy is a criminal offense in Switzerland (Art. 47 Banking Act), banks risk massive penalties if they share even basic technical data without an explicit waiver. WIR Bank uses a blanket phrasing mostly due to its nature: they manage a B2B network with a complementary currency (WIR Francs), which inherently requires sharing participant and transaction data within that network.Second, while the wording sounds extreme, traditional banks like Raiffeisen or UBS do functionally the same thing. They might not use a single “full waiver” sentence, but their terms include extensive “outsourcing clauses.” You still have to formally waive your banking secrecy just to get a Mastercard, use TWINT, or access e-banking, because those services rely on third-party IT providers.Lastly, domestic banking secrecy is still very much alive for Swiss residents (the tax office cannot just peek into your account without a criminal warrant). This clause doesn’t mean WIR Bank is selling your data; it’s just a broad legal umbrella to protect them when outsourcing modern digital services.”

    1. Hi Damir

      Thanks for sharing.
      I am not too worried about that clause either even though I would prefer a less extreme clause.

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