It is important to emphasize that a Swiss bank has an obligation to know the true identity of both the account holder and its beneficial owner, and that there is no such thing as an anonymous account. For all these reasons, the stories one reads about anonymous, numbered accounts are legend. Contact the bank with which you want to do business and get their conditions for opening an account. Small accounts are expensive to maintain, and for non-residents many banks have a hefty minimum deposit requirement. Our best information at the moment is that some banks will open non-resident savings accounts with an initial deposit of Fr. 5,000.
Swiss laws designed to prevent money-laundering are very strict.
The Swiss bank is required to know its client sufficiently well to ensure that the funds being placed on deposit are unlikely to be coming from illegal activities. While each bank may sets its own internal policies to ensure compliance with the money-laundering legislation, many banks will require a personal interview before opening an account. There is no federal law in Switzerland governing the disposition of dormant accounts. If the bank is not known, the search is obviously much more difficult. No guarantee of success can be given for such searches.