Who we are.
Expat Savvy is the brand under which Lang & Partner GmbH serves international clients in Switzerland — a FINMA-registered independent insurance intermediary (FINMA register F01067278), based in Zürich, in operation since 2017. We are not tied to any insurer. The regulatory frame for that distinction is documented at our Article 45 VAG disclosure.
We work with internationals settling in Switzerland — a deliberately narrow brief. We do not serve every demographic, every insurance product, or every canton with equal depth. The longer answer to what an independent Swiss insurance advisor is, and how we differ from tied agents and comparison portals, sits in the positioning piece.
We read the Swiss insurance contracts so you don't have to. We spot the traps sales agents won't mention. We match you with what you actually need — not what someone's trying to sell. — Expat Savvy
The team.
Three people. Each with a primary specialty. The booking flow shows availability per advisor by topic.
Robert Kolar
Health insurance specialist
20+ years in Swiss insurance. Reads supplementary contracts line by line. Languages: German, English, and Czech.
More about Robert →
Hans Steiner
Financial Planner IAF & Federal Diploma of Higher Education
Pension, 3rd pillar, life insurance, and cross-border situations. Languages: German, English, and French.
More about Hans →
Ben Wagner
Founder · Strategy & partnerships
Fifteen years in Swiss health insurance, then tech. Runs loaded.ch and the Expat Digital Group network. Languages: German, English, and Russian.
More about Ben →What we are building.
Switzerland has four national languages. In insurance, many internationals need a fifth: precise English. Our ambition is to become the English-language reference point for Swiss insurance advice — the place people come when they want the contract read properly, the trade-offs explained clearly, and the recommendation made without theatre.
We started because the need was obvious. Too much Swiss insurance advice is either tied to one company, too shaped by product incentives, or too thin for the life an international household actually has. Inside Expat Savvy, the consultation standard comes first. The formal compensation disclosure sits in our Article 45 VAG disclosure; internally, we do not run the advisory work as a product-commission contest.
The point is not to make insurance interesting. The point is to make the insured person feel safe for the day we hope never comes — the day the insurance has to work. That means showing the traps, the exclusions, the age curves, the claim behaviour, and the uncomfortable nuance before anyone signs.
Standard
Every recommendation should be deep enough that a client can understand the trade-off, not just the price.
Transparency
We show the weak points of a setup as clearly as the attractive parts. That is the advisory work.
Growth
We want to grow by doing the quiet work well: read, explain, recommend, stay reachable when life changes.
The system behind it.
Partner intake
Several companies and relocation agencies already work with us in the background. For them, we built a controlled lead-intake system where an introduction can move from first email to demand intake, advisor routing, and client follow-up without losing context.
The client should not feel the machinery. We operate like a high-efficiency insurance technology layer behind the scenes, but keep the client experience fully human.
Coming next
SimplyPlus.ch is our house-built solution for people with pre-existing conditions: difficult insurance situations, made easier to understand before anyone signs.
For relocation agencies, employers, and service firms serving internationals in Switzerland, the question is simple: can your client move from introduction to competent insurance advice without a messy handover?
The four traps.
Every review we run uses the same four-point diagnostic. It gives the consultation structure and keeps the advice grounded in the parts of Swiss insurance that actually hurt later.
Cheap supplementary cover at 32 can become brutal later.
New residents have a clean window that closes quickly.
The brochure promise and claim behaviour are not the same thing.
Sometimes the best recommendation is less insurance, not more.
