Yuh Review 2024
Updated: Jul 5
The Yuh finance app offers everything we expect from a modern banking app. With Yuh, you get a free account including a free debit card, receive interest on your savings, have the opportunity to invest and can make provisions for pillar 3a directly in the app. We took a close look at Yuh and show you who the financial app is suitable for in this experience report.
📖 Overview
Welcome offer 🚀 CHF 50 Trading Credit + 250 SWQReceive CHF 50 trading credit + 250 Swissqoins with the Yuh promo code YUHBW50. Learn more |
☝️ Yuh at a glanceAdvantages
Disadvantagesages
|
Introduction
What can Yuh do?
Yuh is a clearly designed financial app that allows you to conveniently carry out your banking transactions on your smartphone. The app has been developed from the ground up for mobile banking and is therefore particularly user-friendly. This sets the app apart from many apps from traditional banks, most of which were not developed as mobile-first applications. Unlike its more traditional banking competitors, Yuh has no physical branches. Many settings, such as blocking the Mastercard, can be made directly in the app. If you still get stuck, you can easily contact Yuh's customer support team by phone.
Yuh covers the essential requirements of modern banking with the areas of payments, savings, investments and pillar 3a. Yuh combines the advantages of a traditional bank account with the benefits of a modern investment custody account and was launched by PostFinance and Swissquote in May 2021.
The review - Yuh in the test
The aim of this detailed Yuh review is to provide potential users with a comprehensive and independent overview of the advantages and disadvantages, functions and user experience of the Yuh finance app. We have already compared Yuh with over 40 other Swiss private accounts (including debit cards) in our private account comparison. In this experience and test report, we take an even closer look at Yuh and show you why Yuh scored "very good" in the comparison. Find out whether the Yuh app is also the right choice for your needs.
How does Yuh work?
Yuh combines the most important services of a bank directly in one app: payments, savings, investments and retirement planning. Watch the video to see the Yuh app in action.
Payments
Yuh makes everyday payments easy. You receive a free Mastercard that you can use to pay in shops and online shops worldwide. It is a multi-currency debit card with 13 pre-installed currencies. The card is therefore also suitable for purchases while on holiday. Account transactions can be checked in real time in the app, so you have a good overview of your finances anytime and anywhere. You can view a monthly account statement as a PDF directly in the app and download it if required.
The account cannot be overdrawn, so you can only spend what you have in your account. The Yuh Mastercard is a debit card and not a credit card. For certain applications - for example, it is not uncommon for a car hire deposit - you will also need a credit card. In the Yuh app, you can set a monthly card limit (up to CHF 25,000) to protect yourself from expensive impulse purchases.
You can also pay conveniently with Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay, so you don't even have to take your card out of your wallet at the checkout or laboriously enter your card details in the online shop. Yuh also offers Twint, which sets it apart from other smartphone banks, most of which do not have their own TWINT app.
If you want to initiate a payment, you can either do this manually in the app or by scanning the QR code on your payment slip. If the payee also uses Yuh, the money can even be transferred in real time. Using eBill, you can also receive your invoices directly in the Yuh app if you wish. You then only need to confirm the payment or set up a standing authorisation. However, Yuh does not offer direct debit (LSV).
Savings
Yuh offers very attractive interest rates compared to most accounts - including savings accounts. You receive 1% interest on cash balances in the "Savings" area and 0.75% interest on your balance in euros and dollars.
In other words, the "Savings" section is like a savings account, except that you don't have to observe the typical restrictions for savings accounts, such as withdrawal limits. This means you can easily move the money between the "Pay" and "Save" tabs. Yuh has set up the savings option to give users the opportunity to consciously divide their money and thus save more easily.
You can define different savings projects in the app, e.g. for holidays or taxes, and then save for them manually or automatically via a savings plan. You can even run a savings plan in a foreign currency, for example for planned holidays abroad.
Investing
As shown, Yuh can be used as a fully-fledged account for everyday banking. Users can also invest their savings.
The following investments are currently available with Yuh:
305 selected shares (such as Apple, Caterpillar or Novartis)
38 cryptocurrencies (such as Bitcoin, Ethereum or Cardano)
53 ETFs (such as Vgd FTSE All-World-Hig Div or iShares SMI)
28 investments in trend themes (such as eMobility or renewable energies)
2 Yuh investment portfolios (conservative and growth)
Swissquote is behind the Yuh trading system. Yuh offers shares in the most important markets, such as SIX, NYSE or NASDAQ, in the key currencies CHF, EUR and USD.
You can filter the investment products conveniently and clearly according to investment types, markets, sectors and ESG ratings (environmental, social and governance). The app takes you by the hand and guides you through the various topics. This makes investing very easy, even for beginners.
You can also buy fractional shares in selected companies. This means that popular shares with a high market value are also accessible to small investors. For example, a share in Lindt & Sprüngli AG can be purchased with a minimum investment of just CHF 25 - a whole share costs over CHF 100,000.
Swissquote acts as the buyer of the entire share and manages the shares for Yuh customers. Dividend income is distributed on a pro rata basis. When purchasing shares, customers have no voting rights and registration in the share register is not possible.
You can also set up an automatic recurring investment - i.e. a savings plan - in the app. The minimum amount for this is 25 francs. This function is not (yet) available for cryptocurrencies. Yuh acquires a share of the selected financial product for you on a weekly or monthly basis. You can sit back and relax. Thanks to the ETFs, you can build up a broadly diversified portfolio with little effort.
Yuh therefore offers an attractive and easy-to-use service for beginners and occasional traders. On the other hand, those who trade shares, ETFs and other cryptocurrencies frequently and regularly will find a more suitable investment solution with the significantly larger range of investment instruments offered by Swissquote and other trading platforms. Experienced investors will probably also not feel adequately served by the range of functions on offer. For example, no limit, stop-loss or take-profit orders are possible.
Pillar 3a
The voluntary third pillar complements the first two pillars of our pension system. However, considering the increasing funding difficulties in the first and second pillars, private pension provision in the third pillar is almost mandatory if you want to maintain your accustomed standard of living in old age. Saving with the third pillar is - apart from strengthening your pension situation - also extremely attractive from a tax perspective.
Yuh currently offers a choice of five investment strategies with different risk/reward ratios. Although an investment strategy is suggested to you based on your answers, you can select a different investment strategy manually at any time. The higher the proportion of shares, the greater the chance of a substantial increase in value. Especially if you are still young and therefore have a long investment horizon, a high proportion of equities is recommended. The closer you get to the planned withdrawal, the lower the equity allocation should be.
What are Swissqoins (SWQ)?
Yuh has its own cryptocurrency based on the Etherum blockchain. You receive the first 250 Swissqoins when you open the account, after which you receive 1 Swissqoin for every transaction with your Yuh Mastercard and 5 Swissqoins for every purchase or sale of an investment product. You can either sell the coins you have collected or keep them and hope for an increase in value.
The extent to which the value increases depends largely on two factors. Firstly, on the success of Yuh itself, as part of the income generated by Yuh is reinvested in Swissqoins every month (currently 25 centimes per active customer) and secondly, Swissqoins are destroyed by Yuh when exchanged for Swiss francs.
When Yuh was launched, each Swissqoin had an equivalent value of 10 centimes. In the meantime, the value has risen by around 50%, with one Swissqoin currently worth around 15 centimes.
How high are the fees at Yuh?
With Yuh, you pay neither monthly account management fees, custody account fees, fees for transfers in Switzerland and the eurozone nor card fees for the Mastercard debit card. This makes Yuh the test winner in our bank account comparison, as Yuh can be used as an everyday account including debit card completely free of charge.
In terms of the costs incurred, Yuh has opted for a transparent and fair fee model:
0.5% when trading shares, ETFs, themed investments (min. CHF 1)
1% when trading cryptocurrencies (cryptocurrencies can only be bought using EUR or USD, so there are still 0.95% currency exchange fees)
0.95% currency exchange fees
CHF 4 for international bank transfers in currencies other than the euro
Investing
Yuh does not charge custody fees, which means that holding small investment sums with Yuh is not a problem - unlike many larger brokers.
For small investment amounts, Yuh's 0.5% transaction fees are favourable compared to traditional Swiss banks and trading platforms. Even with Swissquote and Postfinance itself, share purchases for small amounts are significantly more expensive than with Yuh. However, there is a minimum fee of CHF 1 per transaction, resulting in a fee of more than 0.5% for investment amounts of up to CHF 200 per order. You should therefore avoid executing small orders of less than CHF 200. It is better to save up at least CHF 200 before making an investment (investment of CHF 200 = CHF 1 fee). In comparison, if you invest 4 x CHF 50, you pay CHF 4 in fees. The fees are clearly displayed before each purchase.
Anyone dealing with larger investment volumes (over CHF 5,000 per order) will probably be bothered by the fixed percentage transaction fee. In this case, you should look at other trading platforms, such as Swissquote.
One fly in the ointment is the CHF 25 fee for the electronic tax statement. This makes it possible to have the entire custody account automatically imported into the tax return, eliminating the need for manual labour. If you only have a small custody account or would like to save the CHF 25, you can of course also complete the tax return manually - all the necessary documents are available directly in the app free of charge.
Debit card abroad
Transactions with the debit card are automatically processed in the corresponding currency, provided the currency is supported by Yuh. This is attractive because you pay no transaction fees for supported currencies (most other banks charge a fixed amount or percentage). For the exchange rate, Yuh relies on the interbank rate (as found on Google) and adds a 0.95% exchange fee on top.
Cash withdrawal
You can withdraw money from any ATM in Switzerland once a week free of charge. CHF 1.90 is charged for each additional withdrawal. Withdrawals abroad cost CHF 4.90.
Pillar 3a
Yuh charges a simple and transparent flat fee of 0.5% of the invested assets for Pillar 3a, regardless of the equity allocation. There are no additional costs, as is the case with other providers. Specifically, the fee includes custody account fees, investment fees (TER), switching fees, management fees, transaction fees, 3a foundation fee, unlimited strategy changes, deposits, withdrawals, account opening and closing.
Summary: Transparent and inexpensive
To summarise, with its free everyday banking, low fees for small to medium-sized investments and the low flat fee for pillar 3a, Yuh also offers a transparent and attractive range of products in terms of price. Compared to more traditional providers, the transparent and simple fee structure should be emphasised in particular. The interest on cash assets makes the overall offer even more attractive.
What we like less about Yuh
Yuh charges CHF 25 for a detailed tax statement. If you only use Yuh as a bank account for paying and saving, you do not need a tax statement. In this case, you can simply transfer the account balance as at 31 December and the interest income to your tax return. If you have a custody account with numerous investments (shares, cryptocurrencies, etc.), you would have to painstakingly transfer each individual position and transaction to your tax return without the eTax statement.
Yuh also does not offer a direct debit procedure (LSV), although this is a relatively small loss thanks to eBill.
Is Yuh safe?
You don't have to worry about the security of your funds either. Your money is held at Swissquote Bank, which is supervised by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority and is subject to deposit protection. In the event of the bankruptcy of a bank, the deposit protection system protects customer deposits of up to CHF 100,000 from loss.
Your securities and fractional shares are deposited with the custodian bank Swissquote. In the event of bankruptcy, Yuh users retain the rights to their securities. Specifically, these shares or units are separated by law from the bankruptcy estate and therefore constitute special assets.
Last but not least, the parent companies behind Yuh are PostFinance and Swissquote, two of the most established banks.
Yuh account opening
Yuh is available for Android and IOS. There is no web version yet. Everything is therefore handled via your smartphone. The account is opened directly in the app. The registration process is intuitive and guides you through the individual steps. If you are already a PostFinance or Swissquote customer, registering with Yuh is even more convenient. Simply authorise the registration with your PostFinance or Swissquote login and you are already registered. After registering, you still need to verify your e-mail address and wait for Yuh to finally activate your account.
To open a Yuh account, you must ...
be at least 18 years old,
live in Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, Liechtenstein or Austria,
not be a US citizen and not live in the USA,
have an identity card or passport and proof of address (e.g. electricity or mobile phone bill).
Customer support and our experience with the Yuh app
The app has a clear and modern design and is easy to use. Anyone familiar with apps from more traditional financial service providers will quickly recognise that the Yuh app was designed from the ground up as a smartphone bank. Consequently, all important settings can be made directly in the app. Thanks to the appealing design, you will probably use the app much more often and deal with your own finances than would be the case with less sophisticated banking apps. The app is constantly being developed further and requests can be passed on directly to Yuh via the feedback portal (Account > Help and support > Feedback portal). There you can also get an overview of current projects and vote for ideas.
If you get stuck, a chatbot and telephone support are available free of charge.
Our conclusion & recommendation
Anyone who likes things to be simple, clear and uncomplicated and wants to slowly approach the topic of investing is in good hands with Yuh and gets a very good and sophisticated overall package. For small to medium investment amounts, the conditions are very attractive in a Switzerland-wide comparison. You get a cost-effective all-in-one solution with the security of a Swiss bank. The app also includes a free learning programme called YuhLearn, in which various financial topics are presented in a simple and understandable way.
If you decide in favour of Yuh, in just a few days you will have a banking app that can already do a lot today and is constantly evolving. With Yuh, you can carry out your banking transactions directly in the app and save yourself a trip to the bank branch in future.
With the help of our bank account comparison page, you can see at a glance how Yuh's account compares to other Swiss private accounts. And with our direct comparison tool, you can compare Yuh with other private accounts and compare them side-by-side.
Welcome offer 🚀 CHF 50 Trading Credit + 250 SWQReceive CHF 50 trading credit + 250 Swissqoins with the Yuh promo code YUHBW50. Learn more |
Frequently asked questions about Yuh
Is Yuh free of charge?
Is the Yuh Mastercard a credit card?
Which bank is behind Yuh?
Is my money safe with Yuh?
Sources:
² Finma Authorisation of the Swissquote Bank AG
Yuh Experience - Yuh Review - Yuh Review - Yuh Test - Yuh Experience Report
