FAQ - How can we help you?

With volt by Vontobel, you structure your portfolio entirely according to your convictions and interests. You can choose a regional focus for your investment and, if you prefer, weight your portfolio with thematic and alternative investments. Your selection is actively managed by our investment experts. In addition, our expert team of investment advisors based in Zurich is personally available to you at all times. Together with regular updates on your investments as well as relevant commentaries on market events, volt by Vontobel offers you a unique opportunity to invest across Switzerland using an app.

We recommend a minimum investment amount of CHF/EUR/USD 25,000 for volt invest. The more you invest, the lower the basic percentage fee. You can invest with volt invest starting at CHF/EUR/USD 10,000.

With volt invest, each portfolio is made up of a mix of bonds and equities — determined by your risk profile. This is your basis. Thematic investments, funds, or "alternative investments" that you add to your portfolio or that are part of your selected expert portfolio are reallocated from the investment amount to the respective product. In doing so, volt ensures that the equity portion of your portfolio is maintained pursuant to your risk profile. Of course, you can adjust your portfolio at any time.

With volt invest, you decide how your portfolio is structured. Our investment experts take care of the rest. They constantly monitor the markets, manage the individual stocks and instruments within your selected products, and make adjustments as needed.

Your money is invested in actively managed funds and products. Any returns in the form of dividend payments or dividend distributions are seamlessly reinvested.

Once the minimum investment amount has been paid in at the time of opening, it does not matter if the balance falls below this amount. However, Bank Vontobel reserves the right to liquidate inactive portfolios in certain cases. You will, of course, be informed of this in advance.

You can make payouts of any amount provided the amount in your account does not fall below CHF 1000. If you wish to make a payout that falls below this minimum amount, such as a full payout, you must close volt.

Newly paid-in capital is automatically invested in the investment modules Basic, Themes, and Alternative Investments according to your selection.

With the exception of the legally required tax charges, there are no transaction fees or costs for you on the part of volt by Vontobel.

Behind the thematic investments in volt are predominantly structured products that represent thematic funds and individual securities. These do not contain any leverage or derivatives and are predominantly similar to an investment fund that invests in theme-specific assets. These can be shares, bonds, funds, and other products. In this context, active management by Vontobel's investment experts ensures that new developments within a theme are taken into account at all times. Additional collateral provided by Bank Vontobel AG also protects you against issuer risk.

Each thematic investment in volt that you add is weighted at 5% in your portfolio. This share is deducted from the equity quota of your portfolio.

You can add or remove themes from your portfolio as often as you like. Adjustment of your portfolio is done once a day as part of rebalancing. In some cases, rebalancing your portfolio can take up to 3 days.

Adding and removing themes is generally free of charge. However, depending on the traded products, there are costs for the financial instruments. For example, if an external investment fund is added to your portfolio, the manager of the fund charges a price.

Since themes are 5% of your equity quota each, this depends on your risk profile. The equity portion of your portfolio varies between 10% and 98% depending on your risk profile. For example, with the conservative risk profile, you can select up to two themes. With the dynamic risk profile, it is up to 18 themes.

No, the percentage weighting of the individual themes and the resulting upper limit pursuant to your risk profile are determined by our investment concept. This cannot be manually increased or decreased.

Once you have activated a theme, you can see exactly which individual securities are in the respective investment.

Yes, you can track the performance of your themes from the time of activation under "Themes" as well as under "Portfolio".

Funds are behind the alternative investments in volt. Each alternative investment in your portfolio is weighted with a share of between 2% and 5%. This share is deducted from the quota of your fixed-interest investments in the portfolio. Particularly risky "alternatives", on the other hand, are deducted from the equity quota.

You can add or remove alternative investments from your portfolio as often as you like. Adjusting your portfolio happens once a day as part of rebalancing. In some cases, rebalancing your portfolio can take up to 3 days.

Since themes are 5% of your equity quota each, this depends on your risk profile. The equity portion of your portfolio varies between 10% and 98% depending on your risk profile. For example, with the conservative risk profile, you can select up to two themes. With the dynamic risk profile, it is up to 18 themes.

In contrast to passive funds, which merely track a selected index (e.g. Swiss Market Index), the composition of securities in an active financial instrument is actively managed by experienced portfolio managers. The aim of active management is to react quickly and in a targeted manner to market changes thereby making a valuable contribution to overall returns.

As soon as you activate a theme in volt invest, this is immediately visible in the app. The changes are usually made in your portfolio on the same day. In some cases, this process can take up to 3 days.

At volt, experienced portfolio managers from Vontobel monitor the market and actively manage your portfolio. If relevant changes happen in the market, the instruments in your portfolio are adjusted to the new situation. This means, for example, that a security is bought or sold.

In the process, you are informed of all changes and movements in the app. This way, you retain control of your investments at all times and have the security of knowing that our investment specialists are looking after your portfolio on a daily basis—as if it were their own.

Overall, the investments in volt tend to have a long-term investment horizon, although the individual financial instruments in the thematic investments may also have a medium-term horizon.

volt is what is called an asset management mandate. This means that the composition of the investment themes is made by our experts. However, you can set priorities via the selection of themes and alternative investments and thus help to decide on the composition of your portfolio.

The certificates underlying the themes are structured products without leverage and derivatives. This is similar to an investment fund that invests in theme-specific investments. These can be shares, bonds, funds, and other products. In this context, active management by Vontobel's investment experts ensures that new developments within a theme are taken into account at all times.

Up to 10 portfolios can be managed simultaneously in volt invest. For each new portfolio, you can choose your own investment strategy, your own regional weighting, and an individual mix of thematic approaches and "alternative investments."

With volt invest, you can open up to 10 portfolios for your different savings goals, such as for your children, your godchildren, your next adventure trip, or whatever you have in mind. The beneficial owner remains the contractual partner(s) at all times.

You will automatically receive a clear tax report at the end of February that can be used for your tax return in Switzerland. It contains all the relevant information to make it easier to complete. You can send the document to your tax office together with the rest of your documentation.

The annual cost of 0.96 percent on assets consists of a service fee of 0.05 percent, an account and custody fee of 0.20 percent, and an asset management fee of 0.71 percent.

Example 1

For a minimum investment amount of CHF 10,000, this corresponds to CHF 8 per month or CHF 96 per year plus VAT. In addition, financial instrument costs are charged for the products used (structured products and funds). These depend on the individual composition of your portfolio They will be between 0.26% ‒ 0.66% of the invested amount. Additionally, the statutory stamp duty of 0.15% of the transaction volume is charged on individual transactions.

Example 2

If CHF 500 is invested in an investment theme, a one-time tax of CHF 0.75 is charged.

All fees are charged directly to your volt invest portfolio. You don’t have to do anything else.

Adding and removing themes is generally free of charge. However, depending on the traded products, there are costs for the financial instruments. For example, if an external investment fund is added to your portfolio, the manager of the fund charges a price. To ensure that it all remains manageable for you, we have set a maximum upper limit of 0.60 percent per year on this price.

You can add or remove themes from your portfolio as often as you like. Adjustment of your portfolio is done once a day as part of rebalancing. In some cases, rebalancing your portfolio can take up to 3 days. 

volt 3a is Vontobel's pillar 3a solution with an in-house pension foundation where your pension assets are actively invested by our experts. This is done via a personal pension custody account that you can open and manage in the app with volt by Vontobel.

Anyone who is at least 18 years old, lives in Switzerland, and pays into the pension fund as an employee or self-employed person can use volt 3a.

It's very simple: Those who are already volt by Vontobel customers can open their volt 3a custody account in just a few clicks in the app. New customers first download the volt by Vontobel app on their smartphone and create a user account within a few minutes. If you only want to use volt 3a and not volt invest, there are naturally no additional fees for your general volt by Vontobel account.

Good to know: volt 3a is available to all gainfully employed persons with income subject to AHV contributions and who reside in Switzerland. The minimum investment amount is CHF 500. Subsequent deposits can be made without a minimum and in any amount.

Expert tip: To ensure that you receive the greatest possible tax benefit, volt by Vontobel allows you to manage up to five volt 3a portfolios simultaneously. Find out more and benefit now in our pension hack.

volt 3a is part of volt by Vontobel. When you open a volt 3a account, you always receive a volt invest user account as well. If you do not make a deposit with volt invest, no fees will be charged for this.

Pillar 3a has an annual maximum amount that may not be exceeded. This differs depending on the employment relationship and can change from year to year. For the year 2024, employees who belong to a pension fund can pay a maximum of CHF 7,056 into pillar 3a. Self-employed persons who do not belong to a pension fund may pay 20 % of their annual earned income, but a maximum of CHF 35,280. If the amount of the contributions changes, we will inform you in the app.

Nothing could be simpler. You can find the corresponding transfer order in the volt app under Profile > Deposit / Withdraw. Simply print out the transfer order, sign it, and send it to us — we'll take care of the rest.

Good to know: Banks and pension foundations do not normally charge any fees for the transfer of your pension assets.

Normally, retirement benefits may be drawn at the earliest 5 years before regular retirement, the regular AHV age, and may be deferred for up to a maximum of 5 years, i.e. until the age of 69 or 70, if you continue to work.

You can make a partial/full withdrawal without reaching AHV age in the following cases: financing of owner-occupied residential property, repayment of existing mortgages, renovation of owner-occupied residential property, purchase into your own pension fund, taking up self-employment, leaving Switzerland (emigration), divorce, or when drawing a disability pension under certain conditions.

Up to five volt 3a portfolios can be managed with volt by Vontobel.

Although you save on taxes each year by paying into a volt 3a portfolio, you will have to hand over a portion to the tax authorities again when you withdraw your money—albeit at a lower, privileged rate. The exact amount of this taxation depends on various factors including the amount of your paid-in pension assets. The basic rule is: The higher your pension assets, the higher the taxation. To keep this as low as possible, we recommend that you divide your pension assets equally among several custody accounts. You can then liquidate these over several years. The tax is then assessed individually per year and on the basis of the securities account closed in each case, which means that the overall progression is lower.

How many securities accounts make sense, or over what period of time should you withdraw the funds depends on your personal situation? Contact us for a non-binding consultation.

The costs amount to 0.48 percent per year on the pension assets. These consist of a service fee of 0.03 percent, an account and custody account management fee of 0.20 percent, and an asset management fee of 0.25 percent. The fees are charged quarterly on a pro-rata basis; the calculation is based on the average asset value. The financial instrument charges vary depending on the investment strategy and as of March 2023, are as follows: defensive 0.21%, conservative 0.22%, balanced 0.23%, growth 0.25%, and dynamic 0.26%. There are no additional fees for the pension foundation.

volt investors receive a clear tax report for the previous year every year towards the end of February with the information relevant for the tax return. The tax report is made available electronically in the app under "Documents." The tax report to be submitted is already included in the annual fee.

To the download page

With volt invest, you are invested in 3 easy steps.

Download app

1. Download volt

You determine your risk profile without further ado, choose a ready-made expert portfolio, or compile your own portfolio.

2. Test volt

Try the app, customize your portfolio until it's right for you, and contact our investment experts for personalized advice if desired.

3. Invest funds

Once you are happy with all of your choices, start transferring and investing. 300 experts manage your portfolio and provide you with exclusive analyses. And you monitor the performance and can make adjustments at any time.

volt uses the latest security technology. Your data is subject to the same security regulations as a normal account at the bank.

You can easily change it – either in your account in the app or in a personal exchange with our customer service.

For maximum security, we use a two-step login process that goes beyond facial recognition. To log in, your personal cell phone must be activated and linked to your personal account. Only then can the device be used by additionally entering your password.

To further protect your account, we use 2-factor authentication. Here, in addition to your password, another identity check is requested.

Specific topics: FINMA regulation, bank license, custody, investment security, deposits, and withdrawals

No, your assets are managed by Bank Vontobel for both volt invest and volt 3a. Unlike many other providers, your portfolio is not booked with a third party but rather likewise with Bank Vontobel. There are thus no additional third-party fees for custody account management. In addition, you benefit from the strict requirements for banks and the collateral provided by Bank Vontobel.

You can close your volt portfolio at any time and have the investment amount transferred to you. When you sell your shares, there are no transaction fees or costs except for legally required tax levies.