I go to Post. My classmates have UBS and they are American, so there is a reason other than this why you were denied.  I had to fill out a ton of forms, letters from my school, copy of my resident permit  and fill out forms allowing the US government access to my banking records

I went into UBS just to see what the requirements were -- the woman told me flat out without seeing any papers/id's that as an American I would not be qualified. But maybe other UBS branches are more open?

Anyway, I tried Credit Suisse and they were way more lenient -- all I need to show, they said, is my permit. I might go with CS but nobody I spoke with would recommend CS, so I was just wondering what my other options might be.

Carol, try calling UBS.  As an American, I was given an appointment to go to a certain office in Lausanne to meet with a certain person.  It was a strange experience, but I do have an acct now (had it for two years).

Carol - I read somewhere that for a UBS account in Geneva, you need to make an appointment with someone at the main Geneva branch.  I don't know which that one is, but that appears to be the key to getting an account with them as an American.  It sounds like the other branches don't know how to manage (or don't want to be bothered with) all the US government required paperwork so they just turn you down.  Good luck and please let me know how you fare.  I need to open an account soon too!

hi,

not an american but i bank with ubs. i would suggest going to post or migros bank. there fees are significantly cheaper and they are friendly and reliable. ubs is just the biggest bank with the most branches, but their service is ok and their fees are bigger than the ones i mentioned. i don't know about credit suisse, not many people i know bank with them.

with regards to the whole being american and banking with ubs thing it's a recent directive that dates back to '09 or '10 after the IRS ordered swiss banks (most notably UBS) to open their records on US tax avoiders... since then swiss banks are reticent to open accounts for US citizens. thus people who opened accounts before this happened aren't really feeling it the same way new clients are.

Your profile says your a student

The post student account you can open online. They send you the forms you need, then you just take those, with a copy of your residence permit, and a copy of your school enrollment to the post office.

A week later you will recieve a letter you have to sign giving U.S. government permission.  You mail that in.. and about another week you get all your account info.