Christian
In this article
People who care about premium credit cards talk almost exclusively about cards. Annual fees, credits, lounges, points. Hardly anyone talks about the bank behind the card. Yet it is the banking relationship, not the card, that decides the things that actually matter: what limit you get, whether someone picks up when you call, whether a transfer above 50,000 is simply executed, and whether you still have an account the morning an algorithm decides you look suspicious.
This article sorts the topic into four tiers, from the bottom up: fintech, full bank, relationship tier, private bank. For each tier you will find what it costs, what it delivers and who it is for. At the end comes the question behind the whole topic: why more than one bank at all, and why in more than one country.
Tier 1: Fintech. Fast, cheap, no relationship
Wise, Revolut, N26 and their peers have made banking better for travellers. Foreign currency at the mid-market rate, an account in ten minutes, a card in the app. For everyday use on the road these accounts are hard to beat, and I would not advise anyone to go without one.
What you have to understand: a fintech account is a product, not a relationship. There is no advisor, no credit line, no person who knows your case. An algorithm opens the account and an algorithm closes it. If you move larger amounts, show unusual patterns or pay from a country that just landed on a list, the worst case is an email with a deadline and no one to call. That is not an accusation, it is the business model. Low cost only works with standardisation.
Fintech is therefore the right tier for foreign currency, small amounts and convenience. It is the wrong tier for anything that needs a relationship.
Tier 2: The full bank. Where credit is born
A full-service bank with branches is slower, more expensive and often worse in the app. It still has something no fintech has: it lends, and it reports your behaviour to the credit bureaus. Both are the reason building a credit history always starts at a real bank. For the US I covered this in detail in the article on real banks versus fintechs, and the principle holds everywhere: no account at a bank that lends, no credit.
The second function of the full bank is unglamorous but important: it is the base for the next tier. Relationship tiers and private banks almost never take someone off the street. They promote existing customers.
Tier 3: Relationship tiers. Climbing inside the bank
The large US banks have built this principle out most clearly. Above a certain total balance, usually deposits and investments added together, you move into a higher customer class that waives fees and assigns you a named banker. The thresholds are public and can be compared.
At Chase it starts with Sapphire Banking: from a 75,000 dollar average balance the 25 dollar monthly fee disappears, and you get ATM fee refunds worldwide and free wire transfers. The tier above is Chase Private Client: a 150,000 dollar average balance across linked deposits and J.P. Morgan investment accounts, otherwise 35 dollars a month. In return you get a dedicated banker, an advisor from J.P. Morgan Wealth Management, no Chase fees on incoming or outgoing wires and no foreign exchange adjustment fee on the debit card. What the status actually delivers and how a non-resident gets there is in the article Chase Private Client: requirements and the path for non-residents.
Citi is tiered in a similar way: Citigold from a 200,000 dollar average monthly balance, Citigold Private Client from one million, with 800,000 enough to keep the status. HSBC Premier in the US waives its monthly fee from 100,000 dollars in deposits or investments, or alternatively with 5,000 dollars in monthly direct deposits or an HSBC mortgage.
Two things stand out when you put the conditions side by side. First, everywhere it is the total balance that counts, not the checking account. Someone with 150,000 dollars in a brokerage account at the bank meets the threshold just like someone holding cash. The money does not have to sit idle. Second, these tiers mainly buy you fee waivers and a human being. No portfolio management, no Lombard loans, no structuring. It is retail banking with better service, and that is exactly how it should be judged. For someone who regularly moves money between Europe and the US, however, free wires and a banker who releases the transfer are worth more than any lounge.
Tier 4: Private bank. A different business
From here the logic changes. A private bank does not earn on account fees, it earns on assets under management. Its entry thresholds are therefore not a fee schedule but a question of whether the client is worth it to the bank. They are rarely published. What exists are reference points from industry reporting: J.P. Morgan Private Bank is said to have doubled its threshold to 10 million dollars in investable assets according to the Financial Times, UBS is usually quoted at around 2 million, and Swiss houses such as Julius Baer or Pictet at one to several million francs depending on the booking centre. These are conventions, not rules, and the relationship manager has discretion.
What you get is different too: accounts in several currencies, Lombard loans against the portfolio, booking centres in Zurich, Singapore or the Channel Islands, succession and structuring topics. That is useful if you need it and pointless if you do not. With a six-figure net worth you are the smallest client at a private bank and are treated accordingly. With the same net worth you are a good client at Chase Private Client. The higher tier is not automatically the better one.
Why more than one bank, and why in more than one country
Behind the whole ladder sits a simple observation: everything you own hangs on accounts, and every account hangs on a bank, a country and a legal framework. If you have everything at one bank in one country, you carry a concentration risk you would never accept in a portfolio. One account freeze, one banking crisis, one political decision, and daily life stops. Cyprus in 2013 showed that depositors above the deposit guarantee can be made to contribute to a bank's rescue. That is not a conspiracy theory, it was the official rescue plan.
A second account in a second jurisdiction is therefore not tax planning and not a hiding place. Under the automatic exchange of information every account is reported to your country of residence anyway. It is insurance: money you can reach when the main account is out of reach. For EU residents that insurance is getting more expensive right now. The EU banking directive CRD VI requires, from 11 January 2027, that banks from third countries hold an authorised branch in the EU if they want to offer EU customers accounts, deposits or loans. Contracts signed before 11 July 2026 are grandfathered. What that means for accounts in Switzerland, the US or Singapore, and which routes stay open, is in the article Non-EU bank account 2026.
How to climb the ladder
The order is the same in every country, and it cannot be shortcut.
- Relationship first, status second. An account at a full bank in the target country, opened in person, with clean documents. For the US that means a branch, a passport and a solid address, plus an ITIN depending on the bank. The steps are in the guide to opening a US bank account.
- Then consolidate the balance. Relationship tiers add deposits and investments together. Moving your brokerage account to the bank where your checking account lives reaches the threshold faster than cash. The status is requested in the branch, not online.
- Use the banker, do not just have one. The real value of the tier is the person who releases transfers, justifies limits and puts in a word for the next card. If you never call, you are paying for fee waivers a fintech would give you cheaper.
- Private bank only with a reason. Lombard credit, several booking centres, seven-figure assets. Without one of those, tier 3 is the better address.
For most readers of this blog the ladder sensibly ends at tier 3: a fintech for foreign currency, a full bank at home, a full bank with relationship status in a second country. It is not a spectacular setup, but it solves the three problems a credit card can never solve: credit, reachability and a second location.
