Tax & finance
expat-services.ch lists 3 hand-checked English-speaking banks in Genève: Banque Cantonale de Genève (BCGE), PostFinance and UBS.
Besides English, they also work in French, German and Italian. Every profile shows the services, languages and contact details, checked by hand before going live. See also Lawyers and notaries in Genève.
3 providers
Geneva cantonal bank with an English website and English fee brochure. BCGE Privé current account for residents aged 26 and over, opened online with a video or selfie identity check, or in a branch.
Checked by our editors · not yet confirmed by the business.
Is this your business?Swiss Post's bank offering low-cost CHF accounts for Swiss residents, opened online with ID check via video call or at a post office branch; site in English.
Checked by our editors · not yet confirmed by the business.
Is this your business?Major Swiss bank with dedicated English pages for people relocating to Switzerland; accounts can be opened digitally via app once registered as resident.
Checked by our editors · not yet confirmed by the business.
Is this your business?Local facts
A person who has filed a permit application or announced an arrival can order an OCPM residence attestation for CHF 25 per attestation. There is no family attestation, so each person needs their own, and the document says that a decision is pending, gives no arrival date and does not make the stay legal (Canton of Geneva, checked ). Orders from a verified e-démarches account are normally processed at once, and the download key is e-mailed the following day (Canton of Geneva, checked ).
The Banque cantonale de Genève is a public-law limited company under a cantonal law of 24 June 1993. The canton and the communes together hold the majority of the votes and delegate eight of the eleven board members, five from the canton and three from the communes; FINMA supervises the bank, and the Council of State checks compliance with cantonal law (Canton of Geneva, checked ).
Bills from the cantonal tax administration carry QR-bills whose references change every year, and one QR-bill can be scanned for several part payments in the same year. eBill registration in e-banking needs the AFC reference starting with R and the AVS number. QR-bills issued before 12 March 2026 are rejected by all banks from 14 November 2026 at the latest, and the collection service answers on +41 22 327 75 00 (Canton of Geneva, checked ).
Newcomers announce their arrival to the cantonal population and migration office (OCPM), route de Chancy 88 in Onex (ge.ch OCPM, checked ). Most procedures run online through an e-démarches account on ge.ch, and the counters open by appointment only. The deadline after arrival is 14 days (2026) (ge.ch arrival, checked ), and a first B or L permit costs an EU/EFTA adult CHF 65 (Canton of Geneva, checked ). The steps are in registering at your commune.
Read more Your first 90 days in Switzerland
Checked by the expat-services.ch editorial team
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