As the name implies, Raiffeisen Bank is an Austrian bank that was established in 1857 in Vienna. It is now one of the top banks in the country, and is incorporated in Liechtenstein.
With a range of products and services, the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank is a leading provider of financial services in Romania. The company offers a wide range of traditional, as well as innovative financial services including banking, insurance, and leasing.
This article will look at the changes to the Raiffeisen Bank brand as seen in a report published by TNS Market Analysis. The Raiffeisen Bank is a rapidly growing financial service provider playing an important role in the financial sector. From the beginning of this year, the name of the bank has changed to Raiffeisen Bank International. The bank also changed its logo and a number of sub-brands. As part of the rebranding, the bank has adopted a new corporate identity and logo. The bank has also changed the names of its subsidiaries. Raiffeisen Bank Slovakia has become Raiffeisen Bank Slovakia Commerz Bank has become Raiffeisen Bank Commerz and Raiffeisen Bank Credit Bank has become Raiffeisen. Read more about good banks near me and let us know what you think.
(Affiliate links may be included in some of the links below.)
Raiffeisen is Switzerland’s third biggest bank. Many individuals use it, and many of the consumers are even bank stockholders.
This bank has a few distinguishing features that may make it intriguing. You may, for example, become a bank shareholder! So, should you open an account with Raiffeisen?
This is the topic of this article. I’ll go through the Raiffeisen bank in detail, including its banking services, costs, and pros and drawbacks. You’ll know whether or not to utilize Raiffeisen by the conclusion of the article.
Raiffeisen
Logo of Raiffeisen
Raiffeisen is a well-known Swiss bank that was founded in 1899. It is presently the third-largest Swiss bank (by assets under management), behind only UBS and Credit Suisse. In Switzerland, they have about 3 million customers. Nearly two million of them are also stockholders (more on that later). They are now a highly successful bank, with benefits totaling about $400 million over the past several years.
The construction of this bank is unique. Each of the 246 Raiffeisen banks is, in fact, self-contained. Raiffeisen Switzerland is a cooperative organization formed by them.
Raiffeisen was formerly mostly a rural bank, but they have since expanded into cities and are now present in a variety of locations. They also aim to be a bank that is owned by its clients, which is why many of them are also stockholders.
Surprisingly, it was developed by a priest who wanted to assist his parishioners safeguard their money. In many nations, this is how the banking system began.
When I was completing my apprenticeship around ten years ago, I utilized Raiffeisen. I even put money into their account (one of my mistakes). However, this was before the advent of e-banking.
In this post, I’ll just talk about how to use Raiffeisen as a bank account. I’m not going to go into their investment proposal (but I would not recommend it).
Features of banking
In St. Gallen, there is a Raiffeisen office.
Let’s have a look at what Raiffeisen has to offer in terms of bank accounts.
You may access your account via the e-banking online application or one of the Android or iPhone mobile apps. You may also do the majority of the procedures at their offices. If you don’t want a completely digital experience, this might be a viable option.
You can accomplish anything you need from the applications:
- View your account’s balance and transactions.
- Make sure you pay your bills (you can scan them with your phone)
- Pay your e-bills
- Money is transferred to other accounts.
There are two primary accounts accessible, excluding offerings for young people.
- a personal account
- Account of a private shareholder
The banking functions are the same in both packages, but the costs, as we’ll see later, are not. Additionally, private shareholder account holders have certain distinct benefits (see next Section).
You have the option of using a V Pay debit card or a Maestro debit card with your account. I suggest the Maestro if you plan to use it for payments since it is more commonly recognized. They also provide a variety of credit and prepaid cards.
If you wish to pay via your phone, you may utilize TWINT with your account. However, you may only pay with a Raiffeisen credit card if you wish to utilize Google Pay or Apple Pay.
Overall, Raiffeisen will provide you with more than enough functionality to meet your banking requirements.
It’s worth noting that Raiffeisen is only accessible in the three official languages of France, Germany, and Italy. In an office, you’ll most likely find someone who speaks English, but the website and apps will not be accessible in English.
Advantages for shareholders
With Raiffeisen MemberPlus, you may get a cheaper ski pass.
You have the option of becoming a shareholder with Raiffeisen. You will be granted access to the private shareholder account as a result of this (cheaper than the private account, more in the next section). However, you will get additional shareholder benefits as a result of this. These benefits are also known as Raiffeisen MemberPlus benefits.
You will have access to the following as a shareholder:
- In Switzerland, there are many free museums.
- Discounted museum tours with a guide.
- Many castles and other attractions are available for free or at a reduced cost.
- Many ski resorts offer discounted weekday day passes.
- Many concerts and activities are available at reduced rates.
Furthermore, depending on which Raiffeisen bank you use, you may be eligible for additional incentives. For example, at the time of writing, I was seeing the following offers (among many others):
- In the Granges Office, you may get a 5 CHF discount on Happyland.
- In the Crans-Montana Office, you may get a 15% discount on paintball.
- In the Bouveret Office, you may get a 20% discount on Aquaparc.
If you like museums, content, or events, these benefits may be particularly appealing. Many of the deals are also applicable to your children. The museum, for example, will be free for up to three youngsters.
It’s difficult to place a monetary figure on this benefit since it is largely dependent on what you eat. It will be close to nothing each year for us, with a maximum of 10 CHF. However, this may save some individuals more than 100 CHF each year. So, if you’re thinking about buying this account, you should attempt to figure out how much it’s worth. This might also be a good time to make an effort to visit museums more often.
You must now purchase a Raiffeisen share in order to become a shareholder. Depending on the workplace, one share costs between 200 and 500 CHF. Your investment will return some interest to you (currently around 2 percent , maximum of 6 percent ). It’s important to remember that this isn’t a connection. There is no time limit on the share. And the interest is not set, but varies depending on how well the local office does. If you leave Raiffeisen, you should be able to receive your shares back at face value. However, there are three factors to keep in mind:
- Between the time you purchased the stock and the time you depart Raiffeisen, the nominal value may have changed.
- If the local office does not have enough money, they may refuse to pay back the portion.
- The bankruptcy protection plan does not cover this money.
This hasn’t been a very dangerous investment, but it’s also not completely safe. However, if you want to, you may increase your investment in their stock. You may invest between 1000 CHF and 10,000 CHF, depending on the Raiffeisen branch.
Fees charged by banks
Let’s have a look at the banking costs now. I’m just interested in the CHF account, although Raiffeisen also has EUR accounts.
Account administration costs are waived for both private and shareholder private accounts. With the private account, however, you will be charged 16 CHF for the yearly account report (free if you are a shareholder).
On e-banking systems, basic payments are free. It’s also free to receive money on your account. Payments in EUR through SEPA will cost 1 CHF per transaction.
You will have to pay 0.50 CHF each recurring order if you have a private account. With the shareholder account, they will be free.
The Maestro (or V Pay) has a yearly fee of 40 CHF. With the shareholder account, the first year is free. They also offer a few credit cards, although none of them are very excellent. As a result, you should search for credit cards elsewhere.
It is always free to withdraw money from Raiffeisen ATMs. Using another ATM, on the other hand, will cost you 2 CHF if you have a private account. You will be entitled to 12 free withdrawals per year as a shareholder.
They also charge a lot of money for payments made using paper orders. However, I do not believe they are still in use.
Raiffeisen does not yet provide negative interest rates on client assets. In the near term, however, they may charge negative interest rates to certain customers who wish to keep significant sums of money (recommendation from the cooperative, final decision for each office).
With your Raiffeisen bank account, you will pay at least 40 CHF each year. It’s not ideal, but it’s also not terrible. However, the shareholder account is less expensive in many ways. The shareholder account, in my opinion, is the only viable alternative, but only if you benefit from the shareholder benefits.
User Feedback
We should see what other people have to say about Raiffeisen.
For example, we may check to Raiffeisen’s TrustPilot evaluation. There are currently only 13 reviews available. The average rating of 2.8 out of 5 stars isn’t fantastic, but it’s hardly indicative given the small number of reviews. People are often dissatisfied with customer support, which is difficult to contact and unhelpful.
We may look at the app’s reviews on Google Play to obtain additional customer feedback. There are over 8000 reviews, with a 3.3 out of 5 average rating. Overall, the reviews aren’t very helpful since the negative reviews are about the app not functioning, while the positive ones are about how well the app works. There seem to be (or have been) some technical problems with the app, particularly following app and Android upgrades. Many others, on the other side, appear to think it’s fantastic. As a result, I’d say the reviews are evenly distributed.
Finally, we may check at the app’s ratings and reviews in the AppStore. There are now 763 reviews with an average rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars. Here, the feedback is a bit more favorable. However, it’s amusing to note that some 4-5 star reviews claim that it doesn’t function. However, the reviews on Google Play all mention the same thing.
Overall, it seems to function well for many individuals, but others appear to have many problems with the apps. As a result, there is a lot of disagreement about Raiffeisen. Overall, though, it seems to be more beneficial than bad.
Security
We should also consider the safety of utilizing Raiffeisen as a bank account.
Authentication and encryption are used to protect both online and mobile apps. They do, however, provide a second-factor authentication option:
- Scanning a QR code on your PC using your phone (or a PhotoTAN device, 50 CHF) will produce a code.
- Get a code sent to your phone through SMS.
These two choices are excellent, and having a choice is a positive thing. If you have the choice, I would highly advise you to go with the first option. SMS second-factor is, in reality, not the greatest option (although much better than nothing).
Esissuise will safeguard the money on your private account up to 100,000 CHF in the event of bankruptcy. Big banks, on the other hand, are less safeguarded than tiny banks. Indeed, the protection has a maximum of 6 billion CHF. The protection per client for Raiffeisen’s 1.9 million consumers is just around 3000 CHF per customer.
Raiffeisen is presently in good shape. And, if one of the tiny offices (rather than the whole company) went bankrupt, the other Raiffeisen offices would assist in the bank’s bailout. Because of its structure, it is safer than some other large banks.
Raiffeisen is a secure place to put your money in general. However, considering its size, don’t anticipate much in the way of deposit protection. As a result, you should refrain from putting too much money there.
Advantages of Raiffeisen
Let us outline Raiffeisen’s benefits:
- There are many benefits for shareholders.
- E-banking security is excellent.
- Bank that is secure
- Structure is intriguing.
- TWINT is supported.
- Support for electronic bills
Disadvantages of Raiffeisen
Let’s take a look at Raiffeisen’s drawbacks:
- Bank accounts aren’t the cheapest.
- The apps seem to have some technical problems.
- Unsatisfactory credit card offers
- There is no free debit card.
- In the event of insolvency, Esisuisse’s protection is inadequate.
- Customers are dissatisfied with the customer service.
Conclusion
Overall, the Raiffeisen bank is intriguing, but only if you take advantage of the shareholder benefits. If you often visit museums or other attractions, your Raiffeisen bank account may help you save money. As a result, the cost of the bank account would be offset.
I would not suggest this bank if you do not benefit from these benefits. There are less expensive and superior options available. However, it’s worth noting that this is one of the few banks that allows you to become a shareholder.
Other than that, you should consider the following options:
- If you’re searching for a free digital bank account, check out Neon.
- If you’re searching for a low-cost bank, check out Migros Bank.
So, how about you? What are your thoughts on Raiffeisen?
Directly to your email, we’ll provide you our finest tactics and suggestions.
Get free personal financial advice that can help you achieve Financial Independence!
The author of thepoorswiss.com is Mr. The Poor Swiss. He recognized he was slipping into the lifestyle inflation trap in 2017. He made the decision to reduce his expenditures while increasing his income. This blog chronicles his journey and discoveries. In 2019, he plans to save more than half of his salary. He set a goal for himself to achieve financial independence. Here’s where you may send a message to Mr. The Poor Swiss.
Related Tags:
good banks near mefree checking account banksnational banks near meamerican bank near me,People also search for,Privacy settings,How Search works,good banks near me,free checking account banks,national banks near me,american bank near me
