BBanque Cantonale de Genève
Four stars: a clean ten-year record, protected deposits and public ownership.
Why BCGE has four stars
BCGE earns four stars. No final adverse finding against this licence holder in ten years of regulatory and court records. Not yet documented: the custody terms and the policy on third-party payments. Until they are on file, the rating cannot count them.
Noam Cohen, Editor, Bank IntelligenceReviewed 6 November 2026, Q4 2026 edition. The rating weighs the public record together with what clients and their advisers tell us in confidence; retail products, branches and apps play no part.
Where BCGE stands out
- No final adverse finding against this licence holder in ten years of regulatory and court records.
- Custody assets are protected by statute in the booking centre, with conditions a family should read.
- Deposits are covered by a statutory protection scheme.
- A broad range of private banking services is published for this booking unit.
- Most fees are published.
What to weigh
- The custody agreement is not public, so its terms could not be reviewed.
- How the bank handles third-party payments is not public.
The rating expresses the opinion of PPLI.com on the date shown. It is not a statement of fact about the bank, not a credit rating, not a forecast of failure and not investment advice.
Regulatory and legal record
What regulators, prosecutors and courts have decided, recorded against the legal entity they named, with the status, the amounts as published and a link to the original document. Claims and investigations still under way are marked as open.
Client experience and financial standing
What clients meet at BCGE, read from complaint registers, ombudsman decisions and court records, independent reporting and what clients and their advisers tell PPLI.com in confidence. Announcements by the bank, awards and marketing material are left out.
What clients report
Banque Cantonale de Genève's own Trustpilot profile scores 1.7 out of 5 from 25 reviews, 96% of them one star, a small sample that does not separate retail customers from private banking clients.
Worth raising with the bank
- Ask what protection now applies to your deposits, since the partial Geneva state guarantee on the bank's deposits ended on 31 December 2016.
Financial standing
| Agency | Rating | Outlook | As of | Rated company |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S&P | AA- / A-1+ | Stable | August 2026 | Banque Cantonale de Genève |
What BCGE charges, compared
BCGE does not publish a private banking tariff; the only schedule on its site is written for retail accounts. Its figures are shown below as read on 6 November 2026, so a family knows what the bank puts in public, but they are not compared with the private banking schedules of other banks and earn no fee stars. Private clients of BCGE are priced individually.
| Fee | BCGE | Other banks | Against the others |
|---|---|---|---|
| Custody and safekeepingeffective rate on USD 25 million | 0.30% a year Source | Retail schedule, shown as published and not compared with private banking terms | |
| Equity tradecommission on a USD 250,000 trade, major exchange | 0.80% Source | Retail schedule, shown as published and not compared with private banking terms | |
| Bond tradecommission on a USD 500,000 trade | 0.40% Source | Retail schedule, shown as published and not compared with private banking terms | |
| Account maintenanceper year | USD 120 a yearCHF 24 per quarter Source | Retail schedule, shown as published and not compared with private banking terms | |
| Outgoing international transferper transfer, standard | USD 6CHF 5 Source | Retail schedule, shown as published and not compared with private banking terms | |
| Transfer of securities to another bankper position | USD 125CHF 100 Source | Retail schedule, shown as published and not compared with private banking terms | |
| Closing the accountone off | USD 0CHF 0 Source | Retail schedule, shown as published and not compared with private banking terms |
Not in the published schedule: discretionary mandate, advisory mandate, third party fund subscription, currency conversion, minimum annual fee, lombard loan margin.
Third party payments. The schedule states: “the Client agrees that these fees shall remain with the Bank and waives any right of return, unless otherwise agreed.”
Sources.
- Tarifs et conditions en vigueur dès le 01.01.2026. Prestations et services bancaires, en vigueur dès le 01.01.2026 (edition code 09.2026) (FR), read on 6 November 2026
- Information sheet on the compensation accepted from third parties in association with the provision of…, read on 6 November 2026. Reference code 5027AW12; undated.
How the comparison works: USD 25 million booked with the bank: half under a discretionary balanced mandate, half in custody with advice; 24 equity trades of USD 250,000 and 8 bond trades of USD 500,000 a year; 6 currency conversions of USD 1 million; 24 outgoing international transfers. Tiered fees are applied to those amounts tranche by tranche, stated minimums are applied, and amounts are converted at indicative rates of 2026-11-06. Read how we compare fees.
Identity, protection and services
Legal identity
Ownership
Ownership is shown as published, with its date. It describes who owns the bank; it does not, by itself, suggest any wrongdoing by the bank or its owners.
Financial strength, as reported
Services published for this booking unit
Offered at this booking centreOffered by the group, not confirmed hereNot located, which does not mean unavailable
Checked on the bank's own pages, 6 November 2026.
Access and costs
Protection of client assets
Before opening an account
- Custody agreement. The applicable legal framework is set out above. Ask for the agreement that would govern your account and check how securities are titled, whether any sub-custodian is used, and when the bank may take a lien.
- Reporting to the family office. The bank lists a desk for external asset managers. Ask for a sample statement or data export and confirm whether it includes positions, transactions, accrued income and all currencies held.
- Exit costs. The retail tariff shown in the review comes to USD 125 per position for a securities transfer. Ask what rate would apply to your mandate and whether the receiving bank or a sub-custodian would charge separately. See published fees.
Rate BCGE
If you bank with BCGE or advise clients who do, your experience forms part of its PPLI.com rating. Every response is read by the editor and treated in strict confidence.
Sources
All 12 documents cited on this page, by subject.
Fees
- BCGE: Bcge brochure tarif conditions paiement frbcge.ch · Fees
- BCGE: BCGE Notice Remunerations de tiers enbcge.ch · Fees
Identity, ownership, finances and services
- FINMA: Bewilligungstraeger (PDF)finma.ch · Licence
- BCGE rapport annuel 2025 enbcge.ch · Owner
- Hong Kong Monetary Authority: Ar 24 eng (PDF)vpr.hkma.gov.hk · Group parent
- BCGE: Private bankingbcge.ch · Services
- BCGE: Mandats conseil placement wealth managementbcge.ch · Services
- BCGE: Trading online 1816 wealth managementbcge.ch · Services
- BCGE: Credit lombard private bankingbcge.ch · Services
- BCGE brochure taux comptesbcge.ch · Services
- BCGE: Gfi institutionnelbcge.ch · Services
The bank
- BCGE, websitebcge.ch
For BCGE
Before we publish a significant negative finding that is not already public, we give the bank the facts and time to comment, on the same timetable for every bank. Decisions of regulators and courts are shown as they were published. Corrections we verify are published with the date of the change. Write to [email protected] quoting reference BK-CH-BCGE-AB953B.
Reviewing this file with us
Families and their advisers read this file before they open an account. It can only be as complete as the documents we can find, and much of what sets a private bank apart, from its custody terms to the way a client team works, is rarely published.
If you represent BCGE, one of our Bank Intelligence analysts can go through the file with you: correct anything that is out of date, add terms and documents that are not yet public, and set out what has improved since our last edition. The review is a paid engagement for the analyst's time and research.
The rating itself stays with our editor and follows what the documents show, so we cannot promise a particular result. When a review changes the file, this page notes that the bank took part, with the date and what was added.
About this file
Researched by the PPLI.com research desk from the public sources listed. The rating is our editorial opinion; read how we rate.