neon and money – our philosophy

At neon, we know people are looking for a quick and easy Swiss personal account, but also want to use intuitive features based on modern technology – and we believe it should cost as little as possible from the start, especially if you’re doing most of the work yourself via the app. That’s why we don’t charge base fees for our neon free account and still offer everything necessary for your daily finances. 

Other than that, we also put our focus on keeping our fees as low as possible and telling you very clearly where we do charge them; and on not allowing any compromise on security nor any lock-in effect (we want to convince you to stay through the quality of our product).

As a company, we are not focused on bonuses and margin optimisation  (though yes, we need to earn money to transform the Swiss banking landscape in the long term). And we make decisions independently of old patterns and entanglements – we prefer listening to you and taking your feedback into account, as you are our first ambassadors, helping us grow organically – without spending millions on marketing.

How does neon make money?

We mainly make money when people use their card in Switzerland and abroad.

Whenever you make a payment with your card, the merchant pays a small fee (interchange fee), which is set by the card network (in our case Mastercard). We then receive a part of this fee – for payments in Switzerland, for example, about 0.2-0.3% of the amount.

Then, when you purchase things abroad (online and in-store), as a neon free user you pay a small currency conversion surcharge of 0.35% of the transaction price. This is still very low compared to the offering of traditional banks as well as neobanks in the Swiss market. Also, when you withdraw cash, as a neon free user you pay a fee of 2.50 CHF per withdrawal in Switzerland and 1.5% of the withdrawn amount abroad. With neon plus, neon global and neon metal, however, there is no currency conversion fee of 0.35% and the costs for cash withdrawals in Switzerland and abroad are lower or even non-existent. Click here for an overview of our new plans.

We also earn money with the (reasonable) monthly subscription fees that you pay when you opt for our neon plans neon plus, neon global, or neon metal. These fees enable us to diversify our sources of revenue, while ensuring that we always offer you the best price for the services we provide you with.

And we also earn money with neon invest, our low-cost feature for buying and selling shares and ETFs. There are no kickback fees for neon invest – we earn money with the transaction fees (0.5% of the transaction value for all ETFs and Swiss shares and 1.0% for international shares). With this, we cover the cost for Hypothekarbank Lenzburg AG (e.g. infrastructure, custody, access). An exception are the 0% investment plan titles that we offer in partnership with Invesco and other partners. For these, we waive our trading fees and instead receive a commission from our partners that is lower than what we would earn with the trading fees. For Leonteq products, we receive a share of the assets under management.

Last but not least, we keep a close eye on our costs. We’re not burdened by cumbersome structures: neon is a 100% digital, ultra-simple product without any branches or counters. We collaborate with highly professional partners who are experts in their field and can offer amazing quality at great prices.

We also earn money with selected partner offers, which you can find in the neon Benefits section of our app. You can find a current listing here:

• Pillar 3a partners: Up to 150 CHF per completion

• Investment partners: Up to 150 CHF per completion

• Insurance partners: A commission for the portfolio (up to 75 CHF per policy)

• Mortgage consulting partners: Depending on the amount of the mortgage

• Other offers in our Benefits section: Varying amounts depending on the partner

All that means we can be flexible and swift while getting by with a comparatively small team. Plus, neon doesn’t undertake any risky transactions or pay its managers eye-watering bonuses.