About different conditions of safe deposit box offers in Switzerland
moneyland.ch compared the smallest, medium and largest safe deposit boxes offered by 30 providers. In addition to medium-sized and large Swiss banks, the providers examined also included five non-bank providers.
Safe deposit box services form an integral part of the portfolio of many Swiss banks. They are also still inseparably linked to the myth of the Swiss banking centre.
Moneyland now took a closer look at safe deposit box offers: "In particular, the annual rental costs sometimes differ considerably, sometimes even between the individual branches of a bank," says Silvan Wehrli, analyst at moneyland.ch.
The rule of thumb is: the larger the compartment, the lower the rental costs per litre. There are further differences with regard to the additional services offered, such as 24-hour access or key deposit.
Comparison of safe deposit box supply and capacity utilisation
Many medium-sized banks have thousands of safe deposit boxes on offer. For example, Glarner Kantonalbank has 2250, Migros Bank 5280, Walliser Kantonalbank more than 8200, Schwyzer Kantonalbank more than 10,600, Basellandschaftliche Kantonalbank 11,900, Freiburger Kantonalbank more than 12,800, Basler Kantonalbank more than 14,800, Aargauische Kantonalbank more than 15,400, Valiant 32,000, Berner Kantonalbank 38,000, Zürcher Kantonalbank more than 62,000 and UBS even offers around 240,000 safe deposit boxes throughout Switzerland. PostFinance, on the other hand, does not offer any safe deposit boxes.
The supply and utilisation of safe deposit boxes have not changed much at many banks in recent years, as a comparison with an earlier survey by moneyland.ch in 2015 shows. At many banks, the utilisation of safe deposit boxes is still between 40 and 70 percent - and the prices have hardly changed either. At UBS, the utilisation rate is still around 50%.
Comparison of the smallest lockers
The smallest safe-deposit boxes compared have a maximum capacity of 10 litres. The annual rental prices vary between 60 and 200 francs per year for banks and between around 185 and 475 francs per year for non-bank providers. Per litre and year, this corresponds to a price of between around 6 and 70 francs, depending on the safe deposit box. "The most expensive providers are therefore up to more than ten times as expensive as the cheapest banks," concludes Benjamin Manz, Managing Director of moneyland.ch.
Comparison of the middle lockers
In the context of the medium size range, moneyland.ch has asked the providers to quote the prices of lockers that contain approximately 50 litres. Depending on the provider, the medium safe-deposit boxes are slightly smaller or larger. The annual rental costs for medium-sized safe-deposit boxes vary between 145 and 480 francs for banks and between 750 and 2400 francs for non-bank providers. Per litre and year, that's between around 3 at the cheapest bank and eighteen times that amount - i.e. 54 francs - at the most expensive private provider.
Comparison of the largest safe deposit boxes
Banks offer particularly spacious safe deposit boxes for people with large valuables. The actual sizes of the largest safe-deposit boxes vary considerably - which is why a direct price comparison per litre is somewhat unfair. The largest safe deposit boxes at banks can range from over 100 to well over 10,000 liters. The rental costs are often correspondingly unequal, ranging from CHF 300 to CHF 10,000 per year (with non-bank providers). The price per litre ranges from around 20 centimes to around 42 francs, depending on the provider.
Thousands of notes in Swiss bank deposit boxes
According to the Swiss National Bank (SNB), there are CHF 48 billion worth of thousand notes in circulation, which corresponds to more than 48 million thousand notes and, in terms of value, more than 60 percent of the total notes in circulation. Many of these thousand notes are hoarded in safe deposit boxes or vaults.
- with the latest version of the 1000-franc note from 2019 even more than before. This has a 17 percent lower volume than the previous thousand-franc note. The smallest Swiss bank safe deposit box of the banks surveyed, which holds around 3.4 litres, would have room for around 3,000 notes worth around 3 million francs.
In a medium-sized safe-deposit box with a capacity of 50 litres, wealthy customers could stow cash worth around 44 million francs, and in one of the largest safe-deposit boxes with a capacity of 15,000 litres, banknotes worth more than 13 billion francs.
Safe deposit boxes from non-bank providers in comparison
moneyland.ch compared Swiss banks with Degussa, Pro Aurum, Safes Fidelity, Sincona Trading and Swiss Gold Safe as well as five non-bank providers. Result: The private providers are significantly more expensive than the banks studied, but also differ in some respects.
The most important difference lies in the fact that, unlike banks, non-banks do not require an additional account opening. This is an advantage especially for customers domiciled abroad, who can thus avoid the high additional account fees for customers domiciled outside Switzerland. Since the providers examined are often precious metal dealers, customers do not have to pay the transport costs for their physical precious metals to an external safe deposit box.
Other possible additional services offered by private providers include insurance, some of which is included in the price. Providers such as Swiss Gold Safe, Degussa or Pro Aurum, for example, offer included basic insurance for sums insured up to CHF 50,000. Providers such as Swiss Gold Safe also advertise specially secure storage in the Gotthard region.
Additional costs
Anyone wishing to open a safe deposit box should note that there may be additional costs besides rental fees. If tenants wish to have an additional key deposit, this is possible with some banks, but involves costs ranging from CHF 40 to over CHF 400 per year. If the safe-deposit box tenants lose a key, they will be charged the costs of a forced opening, which can be up to 1000 francs. Finally, in the case of bank safe deposit boxes, insurance costs are not included in the rent.
