Before you start

Registration confirmation or permit card
Passport
Address in Basel-Stadt, or a German or French address plus a G permit
Employment contract, sometimes requested

Step-by-step

1
Register first, then apply
The Einwohneramt receipt is issued on the spot and is normally sufficient proof of residence. Waiting for the plastic permit card to arrive delays your first salary payment for nothing.
In personWho: You
2
Choose the bank tier that matches your needs
Basler Kantonalbank is the cantonal bank; UBS and Raiffeisen cover the universal side; Neon, Yuh and Zak are materially cheaper for ordinary current-account use and are widely used by residents.
OnlineWho: You
3
Declare US person status before you apply
FATCA reporting leads several Swiss banks to decline US citizens and green-card holders or to restrict services. Establish which institutions accept US clients before you submit anything formal.
In personWho: You
4
Set up a euro strategy if you commute
Frontaliers keep a Swiss account for salary and a German or French one for rent and daily life. Doing the conversion at a retail bank rate every month costs real money over a year; specialist transfer services and multi-currency accounts are the standard local workaround.
OnlineWho: You
5
Learn the QR-bill
Rent, insurance, tax instalments and the Serafe broadcasting fee arrive as QR-bills you scan in the banking app or register for eBill. Nothing auto-debits by default, which is the usual cause of a first missed deadline.
Mobile appWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport
Registration confirmation or permit
Proof of address
Employment contract, sometimes requested

Things most newcomers don’t know

For a cross-border commuter, the exchange rate is a bigger annual cost than every bank fee combined.

A retail bank's CHF-to-EUR spread of one to two percent on a salary converted monthly runs into four figures a year. Multi-currency accounts and specialist transfer services cut that to a fraction. It is the single largest recurring saving available to the roughly 35,000 people who commute into this canton.

Source: community-reported, consistently

Holding a Swiss account does not hide anything from a German or French tax office.

Switzerland exchanges financial account information automatically with EU states. A commuter's Swiss balances are reported to their country of residence as a matter of routine. Nothing about banking in Basel changes where you are taxed — that is settled by the treaty rules, not by where the account sits.

Source: OECD automatic exchange of information, applied by Switzerland

US citizens should confirm a bank accepts US persons before applying.

FATCA obligations lead a number of Swiss institutions to decline US clients outright. A formal refusal is awkward to explain to the next bank and can hold up a salary payment for weeks. A phone call first avoids the whole sequence.

Source: Swiss banking practice under FATCA

Swiss retail banking has real monthly fees, which arrivals from Germany find surprising.

German free current accounts have no Swiss equivalent at the traditional banks. Maintenance charges, card fees and per-transaction costs are normal. The digital challengers are used by ordinary Swiss residents, not just newcomers, and switching later is straightforward.

Source: Swiss retail banking fee schedules

Common mistakes to avoid

Applying before completing your registration.
For US persons: applying without confirming the bank accepts US clients.
Converting a Swiss salary at a retail bank rate every month instead of using a multi-currency or transfer service.
Assuming free banking as in Germany.
Missing QR-bill deadlines because nothing auto-debits.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.