Where to change your EURos to CHF in Geneva (best rate) ?

Where to change your EURos to CHF in Geneva (best rate) ?

  August 09, 2018    Destination Leman - sejour tourisme, affaires

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With France and the rest of Europe being so close, it will come a time when you need to convert money - that is EUR back to CHF. So here I offer a comparison of the different rates I observed on the same day in 3 different currency exchange offices. So at the end of the article you will get an idea on where to go to change currencies, in particular Euros to Swiss Francs.

Currency Exchange EUR-CHF: in France or in Switzerland ?

Of course, the basic principle is that you should do the conversion in Switzerland if you are after CHF and convert your Swiss Francs notes to Euros in Europe. But that goes without saying, just to explain that  my comparison does not include currency exchanges outside Switzerland.

So it turned out I had to change immediately EUR to CHF, and could not use the online providers.

Money exchange in the Geneva Cornavin station

I was walking around the Cornavin train station and peered through the currency exchange rates proposed by the office located inside the station, next to the ticket counter. I say it "peered" because I knew from the get-go their rate would be less interesting. In addition, this exchange for currencies actually charge a 4 CHF fee for each transaction, on top of the less advantageous rate.

Inside the train station, the customers or tourists are captive because they probably need to get it done quick before hopping on a train and are too rich to be bothered to conduct some benchmarking of the various rates offered by the competition.

Currency exchange offices in Geneva central area

Then I walked down the Rue du Mont-Blanc where several money exchanges are located and competing to get the tourists, so probably a good place. I opted for the Lyland Revenue money exchange office. Although located on the street, this office seems to be less visible because there weren't any tourist queuing there. Fee included in the rate. Exchange rates are displayed.

Money conversion with Migros

At last I went to see the Change Migros.
What is annoying is that they do not display their exchange rates, so you have to enter and ask.
There is always a queue, so you will queue to ask, pfff...
I did not find their employees very customer-friendly. Fee included in the rate.

Comparison to find the best exchange rate EUR-CHF

Here is the summary table of the rates on that day. Discover which of the 3 currency exchange offices had the best money exchange rate:

Money Change office in SBB CFF (at the train station ticket counter) -  plus a 4 CHF flat fee	1 EUR = 1.1153 CHF
Money Change Migros	1 EUR = 1.1305 CHF
Currency exchange Lyland (touristic area: Rue du Mont Blanc)	1 EUR = 1.1330 CHF

So, it turns out the best rate was the Lyland Revenue exchange I initially thought it would be Change Migros, as it has a good reputation. Change Migros has also been identified on this website: www.travailler-en-suisse.ch. For more regular or monthly currency conversion, especially for the Frontaliers, this time from CHF to EUR, here is another possible solution.

Online monthly conversion CHF-EUR: the b-Sharpe solution

When it comes to converting large amounts of currencies, it is better to use the services of a company in lieu of the banks: online money conversion exchanges. This is particularly indicated if you work in Switzerland and are paid in Swiss Francs, and you live in France with most of your expenditure in Euros. The advantage of converting the money this way is that the money transfer is made directly on your bank account and you do not need to carry a lot of cash with you every month.

B-Sharpe is one of the companies that offers this service. I mention them here as I have an account with them, although I have never had to use it to this day. They actually display their rates online on their website: www.b-sharpe.com.

Here are some pieces of information regarding the b-Sharpe money exchange service:

• b-Sharpe can convert about 30 currencies incuding CHF, EUR, USD, GBP, AED, CAD, AUD, etc.
• You know the foreign exchange rate for the currency before the transaction happens, so you are able to compare
• The transaction happens through an intermediary account that you open with b-Sharpe,
• The money wire to your destination bank is free of charge
• b-Sharpe communicates on the currency exchange rate and on their margin: usually they use the daily interbank offered rate + 0.5%. For transaction below 4999 CHF, they charge a flat fee of 5.- CHF that disappears beyond. The percentage decreases the more moeny you change.
• If you really trust them, you can even have your salary wired to your b-Sharpe account and then wired in Euros to your French account!