Your employer just agreed to pay your salary onto Revolut’s new Swiss IBAN. The app looks slick, FX rates are unbeatable, and that metal card feels premium. But two weeks later, you’re standing at a Coop checkout realizing you can’t pay with TWINT, your health insurance QR-bill won’t scan, and your account just got frozen for “security reasons.” Welcome to the gap between fintech promise and Swiss banking reality.
The Swiss IBAN Illusion: What’s Really in a Number?
Revolut’s marketing proudly announces “Swiss IBANs”, but here’s what they don’t put in the Instagram ads: your IBAN isn’t truly yours. It’s a pooled account at PostFinance held in the name of Revolut Bank UAB. When your salary lands, it hits Revolut’s corporate account before being routed to your personal balance. This isn’t just semantics, it matters when your landlord’s Mietkaution reference check fails because the account name doesn’t match yours.
The Lithuanian license behind Revolut’s European operations provides EUR 100,000 deposit protection, but Swiss Einlagensicherung? Nonexistent. Compare this to Neon, which operates under Hypothekarbank Lenzburg’s Swiss banking license with full FINMA supervision and CHF 100,000 protection. Or Yuh, backed by Swissquote with the same safeguards. For your primary salary account, that difference isn’t theoretical, it’s the line between regulated Swiss banking and EU fintech innovation.
The Daily Banking Reality Check
Let’s run through a typical Swiss financial month:
- Mid-month: Your salary arrives via LSV. With Revolut, you can receive it, technically. But many Swiss payroll systems flag non-personal IBANs, requiring manual verification that delays your payment by days.
- Week 1: Health insurance QR-bill arrives. Revolut can’t scan it. You’ll manually enter payment details, hoping you don’t mistype the 27-digit reference number. Neon and Yuh? Native QR-bill scanning, done in three taps.
- Week 2: Splitting restaurant bills with friends. Switzerland runs on TWINT. Revolut doesn’t offer it. You’ll be the person asking for IBAN details like it’s 2015 while everyone else has sent their share in seconds.
- Week 3: eBill notifications for your mobile plan and Serafe. Revolut doesn’t support eBill. You’ll either forward these to a traditional bank or set up manual standing orders and hope the amounts never change.
- Week 4: Need to deposit cash from selling something on Tutti? Revolut offers no cash deposit option. Neon lets you deposit at post offices, Yuh supports TWINT-based cash loading.
The pattern is clear: Revolut handles the big things (receiving salary, holding money) but fails at the small friction points that define daily Swiss financial life.
When Accounts Freeze: The Support Bottleneck
The research reveals a recurring nightmare: accounts frozen without warning. One user reported being locked out for two weeks while abroad, with Revolut’s chatbot-only support providing generic responses. Another had their account closed days after being unblocked, with “no real possibility of appeal.”
This isn’t just bad luck. Revolut’s risk algorithms, designed for global fraud prevention, often misinterpret normal Swiss spending patterns, like frequent small payments at Migros, or a CHF 3,000 transfer to a Krankenkasse. When this happens, you’re not calling a Swiss hotline. You’re waiting for a chat agent, likely in another time zone, who may not understand why your Quellensteuer payment can’t be delayed.
Swiss neobanks offer a different experience. Neon provides email support with Swiss German speakers. Yuh offers phone support Monday-Friday until 22:00, in all national languages. It’s the difference between being a customer and being a data point.
The Swiss Alternatives: What You’re Actually Giving Up
- Neon (Hypothekarbank Lenzburg): Free account, TWINT, eBill, QR-bills, free Swiss ATM withdrawals twice monthly. The CHF 20 card replacement fee stings, but it’s a one-time cost every five years. Their app feels basic but handles every Swiss payment method natively.
- Yuh (Swissquote): Free account, TWINT, eBill, QR-bills, free Swiss ATM withdrawal weekly. The 0.95% FX markup is higher than Revolut’s 0.5% after your free CHF 1,000 monthly allowance, but you get Swissquote’s trading platform integration and Säule 3a options.
- ZKB (Zürcher Kantonalbank): Not a neobank, but the research highlights its appeal. Unlimited state guarantee from the canton, full TWINT/eBill support, and branches when you need them. The catch? You need to live in Zurich or accept cash withdrawal fees at other cantonal banks.
Where Revolut Actually Wins: The Travel & FX Edge
This isn’t a hit piece. Revolut dominates in its core competency: international money. The interbank FX rates with zero markup on your first CHF 1,000 monthly are genuinely unbeatable. For someone who travels weekly to Eurozone countries or sends money home, the savings dwarf the inconveniences.
The virtual card feature is brilliant for sketchy online purchases. The investment options, while limited to crypto and commodities, offer flexibility Swiss banks resist. And if you’re paid in EUR but live in Switzerland, having a personal EUR IBAN alongside CHF functionality is genuinely useful.
The insight from Swiss users is consistent: keep Revolut as your travel card, not your salary account. Fund it monthly for discretionary spending abroad, but never depend on it for rent, insurance, or daily Swiss life.
The Hybrid Strategy: Playing to Each Platform’s Strengths
- Primary salary account: Swiss neobank (Neon or Yuh) for salary, bills, TWINT, and savings.
- Travel & FX account: Revolut for international spending, virtual cards, and competitive rates.
- Backup: A traditional cantonal bank (like ZKB) for mortgage discussions, large transfers, and that psychological security of a building you can walk into.
This costs nothing extra, Neon and Revolut offer free tiers. You’re just splitting functions to optimize for each platform’s strengths.
The Verdict: Trust, But Verify (and Diversify)
Can you trust Revolut with your Swiss salary? Technically yes, practically no. The IBAN works for receiving money. The app is beautiful. The FX rates are market-leading. But the daily friction points, no TWINT, no eBill, no QR-bills, pooled account structure, and support limitations, make it a square peg in Switzerland’s round banking holes.
The fintech promise of “one app for everything” collides with Switzerland’s deeply integrated, locally optimized payment ecosystem. Revolut’s Swiss IBAN is a marketing milestone, not a banking revolution.
For your salary, choose a Swiss-licensed neobank. For your lifestyle, add Revolut as a powerful sidekick. And for your peace of mind, remember: in Switzerland, banking reliability still matters more than app design awards.
The real innovation isn’t replacing Swiss banking, it’s intelligently augmenting it.
