A Reform.news reader told the editorial team that a subsidiary of Swiss bank Swissquote had terminated its relationship with him and closed his account without explanation. The case involves Yuh, a popular app in Switzerland similar to Revolut, but with a Swiss bank account and investment features. The agreement was terminated on August 11.
“Your card XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX has been permanently deactivated,” the client was informed in the app.
Possible reasons listed included deactivation of the card by the client, a request from the client to deactivate it, unusual card activity, or expiration of the card.
Our reader had taken no such action, and no formal reason was given for terminating the service.
In an additional notification, the company referred to Article 28 of Yuh’s General Terms and Conditions for accounts, which allows it to terminate agreements unilaterally without giving a reason.
The client was given until September 11, 2026, to sell his Swissqoins and investment assets and transfer the funds to an account at another bank.
Our reader holds a so-called Permit C, known in German as Niederlassungsbewilligung. This is a Swiss permanent residence permit that a foreign national can obtain after 10 years of living in the country.
Later, the local publication insideparadeplatz.ch published an article claiming that Russian citizens with Permit C had encountered similar problems. Their accounts at Swissquote and Yuh were closed.
“This directly affects, among others, people who hold a permanent category C residence permit, are permanent tax residents of Switzerland and have committed no violations,” one of those affected told the publication.
Swissquote CEO Marc Bürki confirmed to the Swiss publication that agreements had been terminated, but said these were isolated cases.
According to an insideparadeplatz.ch source, the wave of account closures at Swissquote and Yuh is significantly larger than Bürki, the bank’s CEO, has suggested.
“When we contacted customer support by phone, we were verbally told that this was an internal policy decision related to Russian citizenship,” the source explained.
The reason is “stricter requirements imposed by the Swiss financial market supervisory authority.” According to the source, the decision affected “approximately 600 accounts.”
The EU’s 19th sanctions package against Russia and Belarus stipulated that credit institutions are prohibited from providing payment or electronic money services to Russian or Belarusian nationals and to companies owned or controlled by them.
Exceptions apply only to those who have:
- a valid (unexpired) temporary or permanent residence permit issued by an EU member state, an EEA country or Switzerland;
- a valid (unexpired) document confirming citizenship of an EU member state, an EEA country or Switzerland.
Our reader clearly has the right to banking services in Switzerland on the basis of his permanent residence permit.
