FlowBank SA Reviews 121

Very pleasant communication. The processes and data entry were simple and straightforward.

Opening an account was quick and easy. Contact for clarification by phone rather than email. I found this very professional and friendly. I recommend

Really customer oriented, fast processing, very supportive and friendly. My bank account was opened within 2 days.

They terminated my account for any reasons.
In addition, I'm waiting for withdrawal of my funds over 2 months. I provided my bank details of my SAXO bank. FlowBank was not able to transfer my funds there. It looks very suspicious.

They have a client portal, but nothing works there (opening of accounts, transfers, withdrawals…). For everything you have to contact customer support, which takes forever. After a few months, my account was in small profit and I received an email to close my account, without any further explanation. Then they reverted all my profitable trades, but they left losing trades and made my account loss. I told them if something was wrong with my trading then either to revert all my trades (profitable and losing) or leave all my trades, but they ignored me. When I tried to transfer the money from one of my accounts to another and to withdraw everything, it didn’t work. After contacting customer support they withdrew the money from my account but didn’t credit to my other account! It took them SEVEN days to finally return my money, citing a technical problem. During this period they removed my profitable trades and put my account into minus, and for that, they didn’t have technical problems. Then they wanted to charge me for the closing of my account although I didn’t request the closing! THE BEST PART, they informed me that one of my accounts has a negative balance and they would deduct 20 CHF to cover it. I answered that all my accounts have hefty balances and have no negative balances. They explained (YOU WON’T BELIEVE!): when I opened the account with them they also opened, WITHOUT MY KNOWLADGE AND APPROVAL, an account for stock trading and gave me FOR FREE some stock (I DON’T KNOW WHICH STOCK). Now, this stock was in minus and I am supposed to cover the minus!!! It means, they opened an account and traded on my behalf (without informing me, without my knowledge, without my approval, without my wish) some stock and expected that I cover the loss!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??? I told them if they gave me for free a stock then to sell it to cover the minus and to pay me the rest, I never received an answer, of course. It took me more than a month to withdraw the rest of my money from those criminals. In the meantime, I had to ask and remind them many times to send me my money. I feel happy and relaxed now when I finally have my money :), not all but the most of it!
The worst broker ever, by far! They do whatever they want. You can’t believe it is a Swiss financial institution.

**Update**
FlowBank SA went bankrupt a few months after my review. No wonder. I am very pleased to have withdrawn my money before.

UPDATE 19.06.2024 - And here we go, the Bank is closed by regulator

The Bank rejects payments without providing any reasons. Not replying to Emails at all, very bad communication & support.

UPDATE: I had a phone call with the bank, they say it is a standard practice for them to reject payments and send them back. they could not explain why, just said they do that all the time. In my case however, even sending it back is not possible, so FlowBank just keeps the money. LOL

my advice to all of you reading this. stay away from FlowBank SA, low fees will come at a PRICE for you.

UPDATE 2024
Same story for the payouts, i made a payment in the morning.
after 12 still pending, iam calling FlowBank
Me - please check my account, looks like the payment is stuck
Flow - yes your payment is blocked, we need to know why you do this payment
Me - Ok, it is my money, i can pay anyone i want, right?
Flow - no, FINMA has a law which requires us to ask
Me - Really, can you show me that law?
Flow - no, please check yourself on the website
Me - Ok, i tell the reason
Flow - we have all information now, our complainace department will check.
Me - any timeline?
Flow - no timeline, we do not know, how long it will take
Me - why you do this to your customers?
Flow - This is for your own protection, we follow FINMA rules.

LOL.

thanks to the blog thepoorswiss.com, I have heard about flowbank and opened an account. This was very easy and even got 1 stock as present from them.

But as soon as you want to close your account, the pain starts. I had to print and scan a form 3 times because my signature did not match the one on my ID. At the end I traced it (put the ID below the paper). Then I had to transfer 15.- for closure. I never heard back from them. Not even after my 12th reminder by Email, they did not come back to me confirming that the account was closed. Now I tried it with Twitter, but this is also not working. Clearly not going back to them and absolutely disappointment, they do not even wait until you are gone, they already stopped serving you. worst service ever!

there are definitely better alternatives out there!

After several months of trading (specifically news trading) I receive an email that the relationship has ended due to abusive trading....identified as ''latency arbitrage''. I would like to underline (I can also share statements if necessary) that this is NEWS TRADING, i.e. trading economic news such as inflation, unemployment etc. etc..a universally accepted trading style that has NOTHING to do with latency arbitrage. Unfortunately this broker is linked as management to LCG, a broker that has had big problems, been sanctioned many times and has also had some licenses revoked. I advise everyone against trading with this broker....the moment you make profits you risk having them revoked.

Answer to your answer: the problem is not the account closure...but the profits revoked!
Really your dealing desk consider my trading style like a latency arbitrage?? If yes...It's time to come back on BABYPIPS to study!

After trading profitably for almost a year with FlowBank, I can tell you that when things go wrong, they go very wrong...

Technical issue at the end of June. Their CFD markets are locked (unable to open/close positions) while the US market is open.

It took them ONE WEEK to restore market access on their platform!!!

Imagine during this time, your positions are still open. You can't do anything, the market moves but your stop losses don't trigger.

When you call FlowBank, nobody understands what you're saying, you're talking to people who don't trade, who are just there for marketing purpose.

You ask if there is a guarantee on the stop losses you set up on your open positions? They tell you yes of course. And yet, once things return to normal (after debug), you find positions with losses much greater than your initial stop loss.

They tell you that you will not be reimbursed because it's in their terms and conditions. The risk of a technical problem is assumed by the client!!! You lose your account due to their mistake? Too bad for you!

I wrote to them on the same day as the technical issue, detailing the stop loss errors on my positions.

Over a month later, they had neither responded nor called me.

What broker doesn't respond to their clients' emails? For me, it's unheard of...

They are good at marketing.

However, once you become a client, you discover the other side. Chaotic customer service, where NOBODY will help you and/or take responsibility.

I had to call them about twenty times since June 2023. They NEVER contacted me back to find a solution as promised on the phone.

The only email I received from them after I insisted on August 3rd:

"We are currently processing your request and will provide you with a solution as soon as possible."

Today is September 18, 2023 (over 3 months after the incident and over a month after their only email...).

Still no response and frankly, I don't expect one anymore.

It's an absolutely disastrous customer service and broker in general, consider yourselves warned.

Edit: They answered here on Trustpilot. I tried to reach out to them by email as they invite me to do. Still no answer one week later. Again, what a waste of time...

My recent experience with FlowBank left me pleasantly surprised. Opening an account was refreshingly easy, and the sales & support team was genuinely friendly and patient throughout the enrollment process.

Funding my account and trading were straightforward, allowing me to navigate the platform with peace of mind. I wholeheartedly recommend FlowBank, but what truly stands out is that I now have a Swiss bank account complete with an IBAN.

FlowBank's offering provides a sense of stability and reliability, which is particularly reassuring in today's financial world. If you're looking for a banking and trading solution that's both convenient and secure, FlowBank is an excellent choice.

I'm truly satisfied with my experience.

Great Bank and great product. I found out about them because of their campaign with famous athletes.

I started to trade recently and i find their app is really great and user friendly.

Very poor customer service - almost impossible to cancel the account

I suggest all the users of trustpilot to low to 1 star the rating and report FlowBank to Finma regulator in Switzerland

1. Mass advertising everywhere
2. Everybody complaining for the lack of customer service and unprofessional service

I tried two times to open an account and was refused, first time with no reason and no way to contact them, today they contacted me by phone and assured that the account opening was fine.
After few minutes I receive this:

--
Dear Mr,

I hope this message finds you well. I wanted to follow up on our recent phone conversation regarding the process of opening an account.

Regrettably, due to internal factors within the bank, we find ourselves unable to proceed with the opening of your account at this time.

If you have any further inquiries or concerns, please feel free to get in touch.

Sincerely,

--

This is a shame for Switzerland, Europe and all the online banking sector.

I will report my claim to FINMA.

They was very good for two times to collect all our personal data, details, financial info, what they will do with it now? I will hire soon a lawyer and I will proceed against FlowBank and with the help of FINMA for an investigation.

Lower your rate!
2.4 starts at 22 august 2023 still not a real picture of this company behaviour.

Even employees that left FlowBank have reported a "rude management" and how is going there such things.

Be aware, avoid them!
Protect your data, may be they are just collecting and selling it. I'm very suspicious now, I'm a well know respected professional and I will put all my efforts to report and hope punish and fine such firm.

TLDR:
This platform is for you if you want to invest a lot of money. Don't get intimidated by their current campaigns.

Fees to be aware of:
- Cash Out
- Custody fees
See current price list at flowbank. com/hubfs/Pricing/Pricing-April-2022/EN_Flowbank_Pricinglist_13_04_2022. pdf
Examples at flowbank. com/help/what-are-the-fees-applied-to-my-flowbank-account
As the custody fee is at least 10CHF quaterly, you need to have cash on the account. When you run out of cash, and still have assets, your account will go negative and you can end up owing more than your assets are worth. The custody fee makes this platform a bad choice for anyone who wants to start investing without any prior knowledge.

I was looking at the campaign "Get 2 Free Stocks!" at flowbank. com/lp/trade-with-the-best
Terms and Conditions at flowbank. com/hubfs/EN-2x-Summer-2023-1. pdf
My plan was to insert 1000CHF, get the 2 free stocks and leave it for a rainy day. I found out about the custody fee too late.
I would say the audience of the campaign is someone where 2 stocks valued up to 1000CHF makes a big difference. If you already have 250.000CHF invested, this campaign is not as catchy as if you have 0-9000CHF invested.
The problem of the custody fee is the 10CHF minimum quaterly. When you have a small portfolio the 10CHF will eat up your cash and you will have to insert more money to keep the platform running. If you have a huge portfolio you can more easily afford the custody fee just from dividends.
All in all, the audience of the platform doesn't match the audience of the campaign.

My expenses so far
Bank1 currency og transaction fee: 50,6CHF
Bank2 transaction fee: 4,16CHF
Bank2 currency fee: 0,04CHF
FlowBank 2 free stocks, ISIN CH0276534614: +120CHF
FlowBank sell stocks fee: 0,09CHF

Estimated price (can first widthdraw 180 days after sale)
FlowBank custody fee: 10CHF
FlowBank widthdraw money: 8CHF
Bank2 currency fee: 4,65CHF

Estimated total fees
77,54CHF

Estimated difference
42,46CHF

Estimated optimal fees with lowest value stocks (2x 15CHF)
Bank2 currency fee 1,3CHF
Bank2 transaction fee: 3,5CHF
FlowBank 2 free stocks: +30CHF
FlowBank sell stocks fee: 0,09CHF
FlowBank custody fee: 10CHF
FlowBank widthdraw money: 8CHF
Bank2 currency fee 1,4CHF

Estimated total fees
24,29CHF

Estimated difference
5,71CHF

They also have a MetaTrader cash bonus offer in the same campaign. At flowbank. com/hubfs/EN-Cash-Bonus-Offer-Meta-Trader. pdf
I think the optimal would be to create 2 extra accounts. One of type MT4 and one of type MT5. Then insert 39.700CHF on both accounts and receive the 300CHF cash bonus to get to 40.000CHF. Invest it all.
The 300CHF cash bonus can only be used for trading and cannot be widthdrawn.
Terms and Conditions at flowbank. com/hubfs/EN-Cash-Bonus-Offer-Meta-Trader. pdf
I see the same problem with this campaign as the other. 300CHF is 30 quaters of 10CHF which is 7,5 years. If you plan to invest for more than 7,5 years you are probably better of using a platform with no custody fee.

Other reviews claim the support is unreacable. I've been in contact with the support via email multiple times. They are very helpful and have answerd all my questions.
Other reviews claim its difficult to withdraw funds. I am yet to see how troublesome it is to widthdraw money.

Edit 20/12/2024
Noticed a couple concerning emails from FlowBank about bankruptcy. I've come here to finish my journey before I lose access to the website.

My expenses
Bank1 currency og transaction fee: 50,6CHF
Bank2 transaction fee: 4,16CHF
Bank2 currency fee: 0,04CHF
FlowBank 2 free stocks, ISIN CH0276534614: +120CHF
10/08/2023 FlowBank sell stocks fee: 0,09CHF
24/10/2023 FlowBank custody fee: 10CHF
07/02/2024 FlowBank widthdraw money: 8CHF
07/02/2024 Intermediary fees: 39CHF
Bank2 currency fee: 3,26CHF

Total fees
115,15CHF

Profit
4,85CHF

Note that the FlowBank widthdraw money fee of 8CHF is not logged anywhere.

Be customer in a crashing bank. Cross that off the bucket list.

This financial service provider' support (Helpdesk) does not work at all. I tried to contact them by phone, by email, by chat (from their platform), to not avail.
Initially I need to transfer funds, but the system was rejecting my request all the time without giving any reason. In the absence of help from their client center (so called). I wanted to close my account, but then again you cannot find the necessary instructions on their web site, FAQ or help center. You can only find (through googling) a form FlowBank_account_close_request_EN.pdf. It doesn't say where to send the balance.
If you deposit funds with this "bank" you may not see them again.

I recently discovered this bank and managed to open an account with them, for now, the experience is not bad. They are way more friendly compared with some old-school banks. Most of the time they are responsive and patient. I recommend doing Swiss stocks, CFDs, and Forex with their tools. The fees are really low, which is also a great plus for me!

AVOID FLOWBAK - Poor trading software & Rude customer support.

I use to trader CFD using flowbank, since 3 days CFD service is down. I have several positions open which I can’t close because of buggy software & bearing loss because of my bad choice of choosing FlowBank.

On calling customer service, the representative was very rude and has audacity to tell me to wait, fixing the problem will take as long as it will take and if I want to trader do it over the phone as if I want to do grocery shopping.

Sent several email to support -at -flowbank.com and absolutely no response - not even acknowledgment of receipt.

Flowbank maybe providing cheaper service but 2 cent cheaper service does not worth the stress and financial loss.

A MUST AVOID Flowbank.

UPDATE :: Until today (7th July 2023) more than 3 weeks has passed and Flowbank is not able to resolve the problem. This show how serious they are about their business. Once Again "Must Avoid" !!!

Very bad, contact them several times its been 2 weeks yet no response regarding my account opening meanwhile they have all my documents.

AVOID AVOID AVOID

A bank made up of incompetent people, inadequate compliance and misconduct with customers. they emailed me telling me the account had been opened and after 5 hours that they couldn't open it! In the meantime they have my data and documents. also be careful because the bank is managed outside Switzerland!

Opened an account a year ago.
After some starting difficulties at my site, everything settled and now it is working smoothly.
Great Support.
Advantages Leverage(1:200).
Super quick withdrawal - next day.
Strongly recommending.
I am a forex trader with Metatrader4/5.