Yes, you most certainly can open a joint account. You simply have to indicate the name, profession and legal address of the account co-holder, as well as the type of signing arrangements desired (individual or collective).

Micheloud & Co. advises against opening joint accounts. Experience has shown that this type of account is prone to abuse. You must bear in mind that when you open a joint account with someone, you can no longer revoke his or her authority.

The way to restrict each holder's authority over the account is to request collective signing arrangements. A joint account that requires collective signatures means that the bank can carry out orders only if both account holders have signed. In practice, this makes using the account much more difficult.

As a consequence, we suggest that you either open several accounts or that you give access to your account by power of attorney. In the latter case, you must absolutely specify when and how this authority can be revoked.

Other pages of interest:

Preparing your estate Practical guide to postmortem power of attorney, undisclosed power of attorney and joint accounts when preparing your estate. Swiss bank secrecy with respect to divorce