Do I need a Raiffeisen membership?

I understand that Raiffeisen Bank is a credit union of sorts. Do I need to be a member in order to open an account at Raiffeisen?

Hi there,

Raiffeisen Bank is actually a collective of more than 300 Swiss mutual banks. Mutual banks opearate on the principle of membership, with members pooling money in order to provide financing oportunities for the benefit of all members.

While many mutual banks only make services available to members, Raiffeisen Bank offers services to non-members as well. For example, you can choose between a non-member private account or savings account and a member private account or savings account. Some Raiffeisen banks do not offer membership based products at all.

While private accounts for members and non-members are almost identical, savings accounts for members typically have a higher interest rate than those for non-members. Rates vary between individual Raiffeisen banks, but interest rates for member savings accounts are often 50% to 100% higher than those for non-members.

If you expect to deposit a large amount of savings, the higher interest rates can make the membership fee worthwhile. You can use the moneyland.ch savings calculator to calculate the interest you would earn at member and non-member rates.

Best regards from Moneyguru

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