Keep or move your existing broker?
First ask whether the current broker serves Swiss residents. If yes, keeping it can be efficient. If not, an in-specie transfer to a Swiss or international broker is usually preferable to selling everything without a tax or investment reason.
For the surrounding context, see Swiss banking hub.
Swiss broker
Advantages: Swiss tax statements, local support, straightforward treatment of Swiss withholding tax and easier integration with banking.
Costs: custody and commissions may be higher, and federal securities transfer stamp duty can apply when a Swiss securities dealer is involved.
If this decision changes the viability or sequence of your move, a Swiss relocation strategy consultation can apply it to your own facts.
Foreign broker
Advantages: often lower custody and trading costs, broad product access and, in appropriate structures, no Swiss securities transfer stamp duty because the intermediary is not a Swiss securities dealer.
For the surrounding context, see opening a Swiss bank account.
Costs: you build the Swiss tax reporting yourself and handle foreign withholding-tax paperwork carefully.
Brokers that will take you before you have a Swiss address are a separate market. FreedomBanking keeps a comparison of international brokers for non-residents.
Preserve acquisition data
Even though private Swiss capital gains are generally tax-free, acquisition dates and costs can matter for your former country, a future relocation and analysis of trading behaviour.
The three questions
- Will the broker keep me as a Swiss resident?
For the surrounding context, see choosing a Swiss bank. 2. What is the all-in annual cost on my actual portfolio? 3. Who will produce the data my Swiss tax return needs?
Choose custody after the move is modelled, not because the bank adviser offered a package on registration day.
The five decisions to make
A clean Swiss investment setup separates five questions: custody jurisdiction, broker price, transfer-stamp duty, foreign withholding tax and investor tax status. Solving only one can make another worse.
A Swiss broker makes tax reporting easier and integrates well with local banking. A foreign broker can be dramatically cheaper and may sit outside Swiss transfer stamp duty. A private bank can coordinate credit, estate and family needs. There is no universal “Swiss is safer” answer.
A two-depot architecture can be rational
Many internationally minded investors do not need to choose one side. A Swiss custody relationship can hold core assets, liquidity and collateral for mortgage/private-banking purposes while a low-cost international broker handles trading or specific markets. The trade-off is added operational complexity.
Move in the right order
Before changing custody, export positions, acquisition data and historical statements from the old provider. Confirm that the destination accepts every security. Decide what happens to fractional units, options, restricted funds and products that cannot transfer in kind. Only then submit the transfer.
The move to Switzerland is a good moment to simplify a portfolio, but it is a bad reason to sell everything without understanding the tax rules in the country you are leaving.