Opening a Swiss account online: what FINMA's new video and online identification rules change from 1 November

From 1 November 2026, new rules govern how Swiss banks identify their clients when an account is opened by video or entirely online. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA has partially revised its Circular 2016/7 "Video and online identification" and announced the changes on 8 October 2026 in a press release. For readers who want to open a Swiss account without travelling to Zurich or Geneva, this is the legal basis the bank at the other end of the video call works by. Three questions decide what it means for you: what changes, how the identification works, and what the circular expressly leaves open.

What the circular governs

Circular 2016/7 sets out how financial intermediaries meet their due diligence duties under the Swiss Anti-Money Laundering Act when they enter into a business relationship through digital channels. It applies directly to banks and other financial intermediaries and knows two routes:

• Video identification is treated as equivalent to identification in person. In law, the video call is worth as much as your visit to the counter.
• Online identification without a call is treated as equivalent to a certified copy of your ID, provided certain procedures are followed.

The partial revision leaves the basic framework untouched. It adapts it to new technology and new risks.

What changes from 1 November

According to the press release and the circular's list of amendments, five points stand out.

1. The Swiss e-ID is admitted as a means of identification. A new section (margin nos. 44.1 to 44.4) allows identification with an electronic proof of identity under the e-ID Act of 20 December 2024. The bank checks that the e-ID was issued to you and is valid, verifies your residential address and makes sure that the request really comes from you.

The catch is the timetable. On 30 June 2026 the Swiss federal government announced that the launch of the e-ID is postponed, because additional security measures against risks from artificial intelligence are needed. There is no new date; it is to be announced once that work is largely complete. The trust infrastructure is due to go live in the first half of 2027. FINMA's new rule is therefore ready, but it can only take effect once the e-ID actually exists.

2. ID documents with a QR code rank equally with those carrying a machine-readable zone. Until now, the bank had to read the machine-readable zone (MRZ) of the document. In future a QR code is enough as well, for example on the Swiss driving licence. Only official ID documents with an MRZ or QR code and optical security features such as holograms or tilt effects remain admissible.

3. Liveness detection becomes compulsory. In online identification, the bank must make sure that the photo of you was taken during the process and is not a prepared image. FINMA expressly justifies this with the growing risks from artificial intelligence.

4. The address check may be digital. Newly admitted are digital procedures that reliably link you and your infrastructure to a place of residence (margin no. 37.1). The classic proofs remain alongside them: a tax bill or another bill from an authority, an electricity, water or telephone bill, delivery by post, or a public register.

5. A transition period for one procedure. For identification with a qualified electronic signature, a transition period of one year from entry into force applies to the address check and liveness detection.

Video identification step by step

If you open a Swiss account by video, the circular sets a fixed sequence:

• You enter your details electronically before the call and send them to the bank.
• The bank obtains your express consent to video identification and to the audio recording.
• The call runs live in real time with trained bank staff, and the entire call is recorded.
• During the transmission the bank takes photos of you and of all relevant pages of your ID document and compares your face with the photo in the document.
• It reads the MRZ or QR code by machine, checks one optically variable and one further randomly chosen security feature, for instance by asking you to tilt the document, and matches everything against your details.

The bank stops the process if picture or sound quality is insufficient, or if doubts arise about the authenticity of the document or about your identity. Stopping can also mean that it refers you to the classic route for individual steps, that is, identification in person or by correspondence. If it sees signs of increased risk, it may carry on, but it opens the business relationship only with the approval of a superior or of senior management.

In practice: make sure you have good light, a stable connection and a valid official ID document. Check beforehand whether it carries a machine-readable zone or a QR code; without one or the other, video identification under the circular is not possible.

Online without a video call: transfer or chip

For purely online identification, the circular requires, in addition to the photos and the liveness check, a second piece of evidence that you are who you say you are. There are two ways to provide it.

The first transfer. You transfer money to the bank from an account in your own name at a bank in Switzerland or Liechtenstein, and the bank checks that the payment really comes from there (margin no. 33). Instead of an account in Switzerland or Liechtenstein, an account in a FATF member state is sufficient, provided that state was not rated "non-compliant" in the FATF country evaluation on the recommendations on customer due diligence and wire transfers, and not rated "low" on supervision and preventive measures. Whether an account in your country meets these conditions is something the bank checks itself.

Reading the chip. The bank can do without the transfer if it reads the chip of your biometric ID document and the verified data match your details and your photo (margin no. 33.1).

In both cases the bank also checks your residential address, from 1 November with the new digital procedures as well.

The declaration of beneficial ownership

Opening an account in Switzerland always includes a declaration of who is the beneficial owner of the assets. Under the circular, this too can be made digitally (margin nos. 45 to 50): with a qualified electronic signature on an online form, with a TAN or a similar method that reliably identifies you, or as an electronically transmitted copy of a printed form you have signed. In the last case, the bank compares the signature with the one on your ID document. If you open the account for yourself, you normally confirm with it that you are the beneficial owner. If you act for third parties, you must disclose that.

Business accounts: identifying a company by video

Companies can open an account digitally too. In video identification, the bank additionally obtains an extract from the commercial register or from a trustworthy private directory, takes note of the company's rules of representation and identifies every person acting on the company's behalf; this may also happen at different times. In purely online identification, it requires a first transfer from an account in the company's name at a bank in one of the countries mentioned. New from 1 November is that the company's representatives can also be identified through the other procedures, for example with a qualified electronic signature or, once it exists, with the e-ID (margin no. 43.1).

What the circular does not govern

Useful as the new rules are, they answer only the question of how a Swiss bank identifies you. Two other questions are not touched by them.

Whether the bank takes you at all. The circular does not oblige any bank to take on clients from abroad online. Which clients a bank accepts, with what minimum deposits and from which countries, it decides for itself. Why banks so often turn down non-residents is explained in Why banks reject non-residents; which banks set which conditions is on Open a Swiss bank account.

Whether the bank may still serve you from 2027. For readers resident in Sweden, Denmark or Finland, Article 21c of the European banking directive CRD VI applies from 11 January 2027. Under it, a bank from a third country such as Switzerland in principle needs an authorised branch in the client's country of residence in order to offer accounts there. The most important exception is the client's own exclusive initiative. Video identification changes nothing about an account opening in that respect: what still matters is who took the first step and where you live. CRD VI is an EU rule and does not apply to residents of the United Kingdom, which is outside the EU. Norway is the open case: CRD VI was taken into the EEA Agreement on 20 March 2026, and when it applies there turns on that decision entering into force. What this looks like in practice is described in Swiss account without residence: what still works.

For readers in the UK and the Nordics

Resident in the United Kingdom. For you, the changes to the procedure come down mainly to the liveness check and the digital address check. The e-ID does not concern you, and neither does the deadline of 11 January 2027.

Resident in Sweden, Denmark or Finland. The same applies to the procedure: liveness check and digital address check. The e-ID does not concern you either. Your real deadline is 11 January 2027.

Resident in Norway. The procedure changes in the same way. When the CRD VI deadline will apply to you depends on its incorporation into the EEA Agreement, which is still outstanding.

For comparison, a look at the EU is worthwhile. There, under Article 90 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, the new Anti-Money Laundering Regulation with uniform rules on customer due diligence applies from 10 July 2027; what it requires when you open an account is set out in Opening an account from 2027: new EU customer due diligence rules. It is an EU regulation; the UK is not bound by it. Switzerland goes its own way with the circular, but a similarly strict one.

Your checklist for opening online

1. Check your ID document. A valid passport or national identity card with a machine-readable zone, ideally with a chip.
2. Have proof of address ready. A recent electricity, water or telephone bill or a letter from an authority in your name and at your address.
3. Sort out the reference account. For the first transfer you need an account in your own name.
4. Document the source of funds. Identification is only the first step; expect the bank to ask about the origin and purpose of the money.
5. Take the first step yourself. With January 2027 in view, the initiative should demonstrably come from you.

A Swiss account is legal, for readers in the UK and the Nordics as for anyone else. Income remains taxable in your country of residence, and for clients resident in the UK or the Nordic countries the Swiss bank reports the account to their country of residence under the automatic exchange of information. How large that exchange has become is shown in Switzerland reports around 4 million accounts to 113 states in 2026. If you are weighing Switzerland against Asia, the differences are set out in Singapore vs. Switzerland: private banking for non-residents compared.

Which Swiss bank suits your assets, your residence and your timetable, and whether opening before or after 11 January 2027 makes more sense, is what we clarify in the free consultation. You receive a written assessment within 48 hours.