Neon Swiss Neobank FAQ

What is Neon?

Neon is a Swiss neobank which offers its services exclusively via a mobile app. It offers a Swiss private account with a linked Mastercard card. Customers can also invest in a selection of securities. The bank account is maintained by the Hypothekarbank Lenzburg.

What services does Neon provide?

Neon offers an account and a Mastercard card.

The Neon account can be used to receive incoming bank transfers and deposits (a salary, for example). It can also be used to pay bills and pay for purchases from brick-and-mortar and online merchants.

Neon also lets you invest in select stocks, and hold them in a custody account.

Is the Neon account secure?

The private account which you get with Neon is a real Swiss bank account at the Hypothekarbank Lenzburg. The Hypothekarbank Lenzburg is a fully-licensed Swiss bank and is covered by Swiss bank depositor protection.

This means that in the unlikely event of the bank going bankrupt, account balances are guaranteed up to a maximum of 100,000 francs per customer. You can find more information about Swiss depositor protection insurance here.

Is Neon a Swiss bank?

Neon is not a bank. Neon works with the Swiss Hypothekarbank Lenzburg, which maintains individual private accounts for each Neon user.

What does Neon cost and offer?

Neon offers four bank packages. “Free” is the package with no monthly basic fee, while the other three pricing plans cost between 2 francs and 15 francs per month.

All accounts offer basic services such as free transfers to Swiss accounts, eBill, and Spaces as a savings account alternative. The terms and conditions for securities and savings plans are also identical for all accounts. The following table provides an overview of Neon's four pricing plans.

Which cards does Neon offer?

Neon accounts come with a Mastercard card. Before mid-September 2024, Neon customers received Mastercard prepaid cards.

The card that customers previously received was technically a prepaid credit card, but it functions almost exactly like a debit card. You do not have to load the card before using it. Charges to the card are debited directly from your Neon bank account.

Neon does not offer any alternative cards such as credit cards or Maestro debit cards.

Can I make international transfers with Neon?

You can make international money transfers to bank accounts in over 40 different countries. These include many European countries and other countries like the United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Thailand and Singapore.

Neon partners with peer-to-peer transfer service Wise (TransferWise) for international transfers. When you use Neon to make international transfers, you pay the Wise fee plus a Neon service fee for the convenience.

Transfer fees vary depending on your Neon bank package and on which country and currency you transfer money to. For example, if you were to send the equivalent of 100 francs to a Eurozone country like Germany, you would pay around 1.38 francs in fees. Neon clearly shows the fee right in the app when the transfer is made.

Neon offers these advantages compare to other international transfer providers:

• Currencies are exchanged at favorable interbank rates with no markup.
• In many cases, the money gets to the recipient much faster than it would with conventional bank transfers. Transfers to many Asian countries, for example, can take as little as several minutes.

What currency exchange rates does Neon use?

Neon adds an exchange rate markup of 0.35 percent with the Free price plan, but waives exchange rate markups for the other price plans.

Mastercard interbank rates are used for payments in foreign currencies with the Neon card.

Reuters interbank rates are used for international transfers from the Neon account.

Does Neon charge foreign transaction fees?

Neon does not charge a foreign transaction fee when you use the Neon card to pay for purchases from foreign merchants.

For incoming transfers in foreign currencies, Neon adds a foreign transaction fee of up to 1.5%.

Neon typically charges a foreign transaction fee of between 0.4% and 1.3% depending on the currency and country.

What do cash withdrawals cost?

Cash withdrawals in Switzerland cost CHF 2.50 per transaction. Abroad, the fee is based on the bank package: 1.5 percent (Neon Free), 1 percent (Neon Plus), or 0.5 percent (Neon Global).

The Neon Plus, Neon Global, and Neon Metal offers include two to five free cash withdrawals in Switzerland, and with Neon Metal, all cash withdrawals abroad are free of charge.

Tip: Neon customers can withdraw cash free of charge at the supermarket checkouts of Aldi, Coop, and Lidl.

Can I make mobile payments with Neon?

Yes. Neon supports a number of mobile wallets.

The Neon card can be linked to the Apple Pay, Fidesmo Pay, Garmin Pay, Google Pay Samsung Pay, and Swatch Pay mobile payment services.

Can I use Twint with Neon?

Neon users can use the prepaid version of Twint. However, there is not special version of Twint for Neon. This means you cannot link Twint directly to your account to have charges and transfers debited from your Neon account balance. 

How much does the Neon card cost?

The Neon Mastercard costs a one-time fee of 20 Swiss francs with “Neon Free” or “Neon Plus.” There is no one-time fee with the “Neon Global” and “Neon Metal” price plans.

There is no annual card fee.

Does Neon limit transactions?

Neon has a daily limit of 50,000 francs for bank transfers.

Transactions with the Neon card are limited to 5000 francs of online purchases and 5000 francs of brick-and-mortar purchases per day. Cash withdrawals are limited to 2000 francs per day. Total card transactions are limited to 10,000 francs per month.

Can I overdraw a Neon account?

No. Account overdrafts are not possible.

Does Neon offer standing orders?

Yes. Neon users can set up standing orders. These are helpful for recurring transactions when each recurring payment is identical.

Does Neon offer eBills and direct debit orders?

Yes. Neon provides both direct debit orders and eBills.

Direct debit orders grant a third party permission to draw on your bank account. These are useful for the payment of recurring bills when each recurring payment is not identical.

An eBill is a billing method by which you receive bills electronically directly in the Neon app. You can then choose to pay the bill directly from your account – or not to.

Does Neon offer savings accounts?

No. Neon currently focuses on its private account and card. It does not currently offer other banking products like savings accounts. Neon does offer pillar 3a retirement saving solutions in partnership with other service providers.

Neon has a feature called Spaces. These Spaces are sub-accounts that can be used to save. At Neon, customers do not receive any interest.

Does Neon offer investment services?

Yes. Neon lets you invest in certain securities like stocks, and hold these in a custody account. However, the selection of securities that you can invest in with Neon is small.

If you want to invest regularly and automatically in predefined ETFs and stocks, you can do so with Neon using a savings plan.

Do I get a Swiss bank account number with Neon?

Yes. Each Neon account has a unique Swiss bank account number. As with other Swiss bank accounts, you get an IBAN which can be used to send and receive transfers both within Switzerland and internationally.

What are the advantages of Neon?

Neon offers a Swiss private account and a Mastercard. The account is protected by Swiss bank depositor protection. The Mastercard can be used for both brick-and-mortar and online purchases.

A major advantage of Neon over other Swiss bank account is that it has low fees and favorable currency exchange rates.

How does Neon Green work?

Since May 2025, Neon Green has been an option that can be combined with any Neon bank package.

For every 500 francs which you spend with the Neon Green Mastercard, Neon has a tree planted.

Neon does not plant the trees itself, but partners with Eden Reforestation Projects. On behalf of Neon, this organization plants mangrove trees in countries like Kenya, Madagascar, and Mozambique.

What are the disadvantages of Neon?

Neon does not have any branch offices. If you primarily use online banking this should not be a big issue. Cash deposits into your account can only be made by postal deposit slip, and you have to cover the fees yourself.

Probably the biggest disadvantage of Neon applies to users who prefer to get all their services with one provider. Neon does not offer a broad range of services like most established Swiss banks do.

More on this topic:
Compare Swiss private accounts and debit cards now
Neobanks in Switzerland: A Comprehensive Guide