Opening a company account in Switzerland is not a formality. Under the Anti-Money Laundering Act and CDB 20, banks must understand who stands behind a company, what it does and where its money comes from. Prepare that and the account is open within days; skip it and expect weeks of queries or a rejection without reasons. This article describes what banks typically require and where applications fail.
Before incorporation: the capital deposit account
Anyone incorporating an AG or GmbH with a cash contribution pays the capital into a capital deposit account before the notarial deed. The bank confirms the deposit, the confirmation goes to the notary, and after entry in the commercial register the capital is released. Due diligence already applies to this account: identification of the founders, details of the planned business and the source of the capital.
Typical documents
Requirements differ between banks, but the structure is similar:
- commercial register extract, or for new companies the draft articles and incorporation documents
- IDs of authorised signatories and of the persons controlling the company
- Form K for operating companies or Form A for companies without operations
- a description of the business with customers, suppliers, countries and expected payment flows
- information on the source of funds, for example for capital and first revenues
- self-certifications of tax residence and US person status for automatic exchange of information and FATCA
Since October 2026: transparency register
Under the TJPG, legal entities must report their beneficial owners to the transparency register. Banks can detect discrepancies between their own records and the register, so Form K and the register filing should match or their difference should be explainable. When incorporating a new company, it is best to handle both together.
Why applications fail
The most common reasons are not form errors but unclear business models. Banks reject or delay when the activity is described vaguely, when payments with higher-risk countries are expected without explanation, when the structure contains intermediate companies with no apparent purpose, or when the business falls into areas the bank does not serve at all, such as certain crypto activities. A bank does not have to give reasons for a rejection.
One page that saves a lot
A one-page company profile sent to the bank in advance works well: what the company does, for whom, in which countries, with which expected volumes and where the capital comes from, plus a sketch of the ownership structure down to the natural persons. It answers the questions the bank would otherwise ask one by one and shows that the founders know their obligations.
Multi-layer structures
With holdings, family structures with foundations or trusts and foreign shareholders, effort rises considerably. The bank wants to trace every layer to the natural person, with the appropriate form per layer. How thresholds differ by country is shown in our UBO threshold overview. Family offices that regularly open accounts for structures save much time when this information is maintained per mandate rather than reassembled for every bank, which is exactly what FLIORE is built for.
Digital banks or a traditional bank
Digital providers often open simple accounts faster but are more cautious with complex structures, foreign currencies or cash. Cantonal and major banks require more documents but offer credit and advice from one source. For a newly incorporated GmbH with a simple business model the digital route is often enough; for a holding with international participations a conversation with a bank that knows such structures pays off. Incorporation itself is covered in our article on incorporating a GmbH in Zug.