Your savings are growing again with these banks

Milena Bold and Nicholas Imfeld

The world is finally back in order for the saviors – at least a little. The negative interest period lasted for eight long years. What you learned in school by laboriously calculating interest is long gone when it comes to savings. Since the end of negative interest rates in September, you can now dig up your schoolbooks again: As a review of the Moneyland.ch comparison portal for Blick shows, the money in the savings account is finally rising again – albeit slowly.

Interest rates of well-known banks such as UBS, CS, Raiffeisen or cantonal banks are between zero percent and 0.25 percent. In some cases there is a little more, for example Neobank Yuh has the highest interest rate in Switzerland at 0.5 percent. Meanwhile, the alternative bank specializing in sustainable investment is the only one still with negative interest rates.

Will the SNB raise interest rates?

The US Federal Reserve set the course for further rate hikes in Switzerland on Wednesday. It increased the main interest rate by 0.5 percentage points.

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) can now do more for Swiss savers this Thursday. Due to high inflation, it has already raised interest rates twice this year. The main interest rate is currently 0.5 percent. Credit Suisse economist Maxime Botteron, 38, expects a moderate 0.25 percent rate increase.

“Inflation fell faster than the SNB expected in September,” writes Botteron’s management report. “The inflation outlook continues to improve as global supply chains revert, which significantly reduces shipping costs and normalizes delivery times.” These improvements should contribute to lowering inflation in 2023.

Savings Account or Stock?

If the key interest rate continues to rise on Thursday, savers should be happy. “Some banks will raise interest rates in the coming months,” says Benjamin Manz, 42, Managing Director of Moneyland.ch. But is it worth investing your money in savings accounts?

For example, as Manz says, savings rates have historically performed significantly worse than stocks. Inflation is currently higher than the savings rate. That’s why savings accounts are especially valuable for people who want to withdraw money quickly.

Attention, account fees!

Just looking at interest rates isn’t always helpful. “Some have account management or balancing fees that can consume the interest rate,” Manz says. For example, Cembra is currently looking very attractive with an interest rate of 0.25%. But the account maintenance fee is 50 francs.

It cannot be predicted with certainty whether savings interest rates will continue to rise in the long run. Manz: “It depends on many uncertain factors. But it’s quite possible.”