How the bank rankings
are calculated.

Principles

1. Formula, not opinion. Every rank is computed from recorded fields. No score or position is adjusted by hand.
2. No payment, no placement. offbnk receives no commission or other payment from banks in this ranking. There are no partner links, and every bank gets the same link to its own website. The scoring code reads no partner, commission or affiliate data; an automated test enforces this.
3. Not found = 0 points. A fact not found in the documents reviewed scores zero, and the breakdown says "not found in the documents reviewed (as of the date)": a statement about offbnk's research, never a claim that the fact does not exist.
4. Missing prices are not penalised twice. A cost part is scored only when the bank publishes a price for it. Without a public price list, or where the list gives no price for a part of the sample case, that part is shown as not public and the other criteria are scaled to 100 points. Publishing some prices therefore never scores lower than publishing none. Price transparency counts only in the separate, low-weighted criterion "Price list public".
5. Coverage rule. A bank is ranked only if at least 70 % of its applicable points are backed by data. Other banks appear with their profile and the note "Too little public data for a ranking".
6. Like with like. Banks are ranked within the segment of the legal entity's licence. A group's entities in different countries are separate rows in separate segments.
7. Stable and versioned. Weights are fixed per methodology version. Any change gets a new version number, a date and a public changelog entry.
8. No superlatives. The pages say "sorted by documented criteria".

What is ranked

Unit: one row per legal entity with a published bank profile on offbnk. Segments: Switzerland, Liechtenstein, EU/EEA, Asia, Other locations. The segment follows the country of the entity's banking licence; Liechtenstein is shown on its own although it is in the EEA.

Publication: a segment shows ranks when at least 3 banks meet the coverage rule. Otherwise its banks are listed alphabetically without ranks.

Banks past the review date of their profile are left out until they are verified again.

Tie-break: equal total score, then the higher Security score, then alphabetical by bank name. Never by commercial relationship.

Scoring

Credit rating of the bank (lowest published long-term rating of the legal entity from Moody's, S&P or Fitch): AAA/Aaa: 12 · AA/Aa: 10 · A: 8 · BBB/Baa: 5 · below: 2 · group rating only or no rating found: 0

Statutory deposit protection per depositor, converted to EUR: ≥ 100,000 EUR: 10 · ≥ 75,000 EUR: 8 · ≥ 50,000 EUR: 6 · below: 3 · not found: 0

Credit rating of the country (lowest of the agencies' published sovereign ratings): AAA/Aaa: 8 · AA/Aa: 6 · A: 4 · BBB/Baa: 2 · below: 0

Lowest published entry amount for an account, custody account or mandate, converted to EUR: ≤ 100,000 EUR: 9 · ≤ 250,000 EUR: 7 · ≤ 500,000 EUR: 5 · ≤ 1,000,000 EUR: 3 · > 1,000,000 EUR: 1 · not found: 0

Clients resident in the EU: accepted: 8 · conditional: 5 · case by case: 3 · not accepted per the documents: 0 · not found: 0

Service languages: four or more = 3 · two or three = 2 · one = 1 · not found = 0

Custody and account, in % a year of the sample portfolio: ≤ 0.25 %: 12 · ≤ 0.35 %: 10 · ≤ 0.45 %: 8 · ≤ 0.6 %: 6 · ≤ 0.8 %: 4 · > 0.8 %: 2 · not found: 0

10 share purchases, in % of the amount bought: ≤ 0.25 %: 5 · ≤ 0.5 %: 4 · ≤ 0.75 %: 3 · ≤ 1 %: 2 · > 1 %: 1 · not found: 0

Currency exchange, in % of the amount exchanged: ≤ 0.25 %: 3 · ≤ 0.5 %: 2 · > 0.5 %: 1 · not found: 0

Multi-currency accounts, mandates and Lombard lending: offered or on request = 5 · not offered per the documents reviewed = 0 · not found = 0 (Lombard lending counts as availability only, no rates or terms). E-banking and app: offered = 3.

Price list public: public, all 3 parts of the cost sample case priced: 4 · public, 1 or 2 parts priced: 2 · public, no part priced: 1 · on request: 1 · not found: 0

Calculation rules

1. Coverage. A criterion is backed by data when a sourced value was recorded, including a sourced negative ("not offered", "no rating found at the agencies"). "Not found in the documents reviewed" is not backed by data. Coverage = points of criteria backed by data ÷ applicable points.
2. Renormalisation. A cost part without a published price is not applicable: without a public price list (none found, or available only on request) all three parts, otherwise each part the list does not price. The total is the points of the applicable criteria ÷ their maximum × 100, to one decimal. Group scores are shown as raw points of the applicable criteria.
3. Incomplete price list. If a price list is public but gives no price for one part of the sample case, that part reads "not found in the public price list; not scored" and is left out like a missing price list. The criterion "Price list public" records how many of the three parts are priced.
4. Ratings. Only ratings of the ranked legal entity count. A rating of the group is shown as such and scores 0, as does a finding that none of the three agencies rates the bank; both are recorded findings with their own source, so they count as data. Where several ratings are published, the lowest band is used.
5. Deposit protection. The statutory scheme of the licensing country, as the scheme, its regulator or the government publishes it. Voluntary schemes of banking associations are not counted. Deposit protection covers cash deposits, not securities, which belong to the client. Where no statutory scheme was found in official sources, the criterion reads not found.
6. Cost sample case. Cost sample case: a private client domiciled in Germany holds EUR 1,000,000 in listed shares and bonds for one year in a custody account without a mandate, buys shares 10 times for EUR 20,000 each on a stock exchange outside the bank's home country, and exchanges EUR 100,000 into US dollars once.
7. Which fees apply. The fees the price list states for that client: fees for clients outside the bank's home market apply to every bank outside Germany; account or package fees the price list requires are included; optional packages are not. Orders are placed through e-banking where the price list publishes an online rate.
8. VAT. Fees are taken as published. Where the bank states that VAT or GST applies, it is included; otherwise the net figure is used and the note says so.
9. Maximum rates and unclear tiers. Where only a maximum or a range is published, the maximum is used. Where a tiered rate does not say whether it applies to the whole amount or per band, the higher result is used. A value equal to a band limit falls in the lower band.
10. Currency. Fees in other currencies are converted at the ECB euro reference rates of 30 Sep 2026 (CHF 0.9478, USD 1.1355, GBP 0.85463, SGD 1.4503, HKD 8.9095). The Bermuda dollar is pegged 1:1 to the US dollar.
11. Residence. Absence of a restriction is never acceptance. Only a bank's published rule for clients resident in the EU counts.
12. Sources. Every value in the table links to its source with the date it was checked. Bank profiles, fees and services come from the bank's own official documents; ratings from the agencies; deposit protection from the scheme.

Display rules

• Every row shows the total score, the group scores, the breakdown of each criterion with its source and check date, the share of criteria backed by data, the supervisor (for information, no points) and the date the profile was last verified.
• Filters (entry amount, public price list) hide rows; they never change scores. The table can be re-sorted by any single group.
• The box beside the title shows rank 1 and links to the bank's profile on offbnk. Each bank has the same neutral link "Bank website" to its own homepage, without tracking or partner parameters. There is no contact, callback or lead form.

Grade scale: 75–100 points: Very good · 65–74.9: Good · 50–64.9: Satisfactory · 35–49.9: Adequate · below 35: Poor. The grade above the points follows from the total alone. It is offbnk's own classification, not a test verdict by an independent body.

Disclosure

Positions result solely from a fixed points formula (methodology v1.0). Main parameters and weighting: Security 30, Access 20, Costs 20, Services 20, Transparency and digital 10 (100 points in total); the individual criteria are shown in the table and in the methodology. Where no price list is public, or it gives no price for a part of the cost sample case, that part is not scored and the remaining criteria are scaled to 100 points. Information not found in the documents reviewed scores 0. Banks with less than 70 % of criteria backed by data receive no rank. The basis is publicly available documents of the banks, deposit protection schemes and rating agencies (as of: bank documents and ratings 24 Sep 2026; deposit protection and cost sample case 5 Oct 2026). Equal scores are separated by the higher Security score, then alphabetically. Filters only hide banks and never change points. offbnk receives no payment from any bank in this ranking. The ranking is not investment advice and not a recommendation to choose a particular bank.

Publication and follow-up

1. Before publication every bank receives the list of facts not found, with a link to its breakdown, and is asked for public sources.
2. Answers with a verifiable public source are applied in the next update and logged in the version history.

Version history