Who is behind it

neon is a mobile finance app from Zurich. neon Switzerland AG was founded in 2017; the co-founders include, among others, Jörg Sandrock, Simon Youssef, Julius Kirscheneder and Michael Noorlander. Sandrock leads the company as CEO. After a test phase in 2018, the app went officially live in March 2019.

neon itself is not a bank. The everyday account runs through Hypothekarbank Lenzburg AG; the debit Mastercard also comes from there. For Pillar 3a, neon works with partners: the Vorsorgestiftung simply3a holds the pension assets, the private bank Lienhardt & Partner invests them, the technology comes from Descartes Finance, and the funds are Swisscanto products. Swisscanto belongs to Zürcher Kantonalbank — that is the fund provider in the setup, not neon’s account bank.

According to the about-us page, more than 250,000 users already trust the app. That is the platform overall, not Pillar 3a alone. The 3a itself is comparatively new: the press and the provider report a launch at the end of November 2025, embedded in the same app as the account and investing. neon does not currently disclose a separate public 3a volume.

What is distinctive about the setup is the combination: everyday account, free investing and Pillar 3a under one login, with up to five 3a portfolios and five investment strategies from defensive to offensive.

What the tiered administration fee means

Anyone who reads the fees of the neon 3a first encounters a tiered administration fee. On the price list and the 3a page it is 0.45% to 0.39% per year — depending on total 3a assets. The tiers are: up to CHF 4,999 at 0.45%, from CHF 5,000 at 0.44%, from CHF 10,000 at 0.43%, from CHF 25,000 at 0.41%, from CHF 50,000 at 0.39%. The charge is applied quarterly; when a threshold is crossed, the lower rate applies from the start of the next quarter. Opening and transferring to neon are free according to the price list. neon does not list custody, entry or transaction fees separately for the 3a; the administration fee is meant to cover account, custody and trading costs.

Added to that is the distinction neon describes in the FAQ: direct product costs (TER) are not supposed to apply to the strategies. Indirect fund-of-fund costs can apply to two strategies according to the FAQ and are reflected in performance, not as a separate bill — named there as 0.04% and 0.07%. On the product page, neon at the same time advertises «0.39%–0.45% total costs». The administration fee and possible FoF costs are therefore disclosed separately; the marketing line «total costs» covers the same numeric range as the administration fee. Before comparing with your own statement, both figures therefore belong side by side.

How else does the company earn money? The core product remains the everyday account with the packages free, plus, global and metal — in part with a monthly or annual fee, and card and foreign costs according to the service prices. Alongside that there is free investing in the app. The 3a is an additional source of revenue via the administration fee and at the same time a building block that keeps customers in the same app. For special cases at the Vorsorgestiftung simply3a — certain payouts, for example — neon refers to the foundation’s fee regulations.

In short: the public lists show a tiered administration fee of 0.39% to 0.45%, plus possible indirect FoF costs on individual strategies. The figures come from neon-free.ch and the price sheet. They do not replace a check of your own statement or policy.

Compare + Upload
The fees of other 3a securities accounts are in our comparison table. If you want the figures from your own statement read, an upload is enough.
Comparison table Upload

Sources

This is not a recommendation of which account you should choose.