PostFinance Too Big To Fail?

The Swiss National Bank added Postfinance to the too-big-to-fail list some time ago. How exactly does the "too-big-to-fail" designation affect customers?

Hi there,

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) declared Postfinance to be too big to fail on June 29, 2015. Companies labeled as too big to fail can generally rely on bailouts by tax payers in the event of bankruptcy.

However, the fact that too-big-to-fail banks can rely on government bailouts does not mean that deposits held in those banks are more secure than those held in other banks.

Money held at Postfinance previously benefited from an unlimited depositor protection guarantee backed by the Swiss government. This changed when Psotfinance evolved from a postal financial service into a full-fledged bank.

Deposits are not backed by the same Esisuisse depositor protection guarantee that covers all other Finma-registered Swiss banks. This guarantee covers up to 100,000 Swiss francs of deposits per customer and bank - up to a total of 6 billion Swiss francs per bank.

Because Esisuisse only covers a maximum of 6 billion Swiss francs per bank in the event of bankruptcy, assets held in smaller banks which manage relatively small amounts of assets are generally better protected.

You can compare Postfinance products with those of other Swiss banks using the bank comparisons on moneyland.ch:

Swiss banking package comaprison
Swiss private account comparison
Swiss savings account comparison
Swiss broker comparison

Best regards from Moneyguru

More on this topic:
Bank failures: What happens to your money?
Depositor protection explained