Galaxus, which is owned by Swiss retail giant Migros, is opening a new logistics center in Neuenburg am Rhein.

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

German aviation company accuses Ruag of balance sheet fraud

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

In Switzerland, some 156,900 people have Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia, and this is expected to rise to 315,400 by 2050 according to the organisation Alzheimer Schweiz.

Mtv / Courtesy Everett Collection

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

22 percent women in top management

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Swiss SMEs do not expect AI-related job cuts

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Switzerland remains the world’s most innovative country, according to the UN

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

The Swiss National Bank says inflation is falling

Keystone

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

In 2022 Switzerland rejected Denmark’s bid to provide 22 Swiss-made Piranha III infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine.

sda-ats

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Current account surplus of 20 billion in the second quarter

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

US Federal Reserve ensures gains on the Swiss stock market

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

More

Current account surplus of 20 billion in the second quarter

This content was published on

Sep 20, 2024

The Swiss economy posted a high current account surplus in the second quarter of 2024.

Read more: Current account surplus of 20 billion in the second quarter

More

Swiss National Park criticises wolf pack cull plans

This content was published on

More

Current account surplus of 20 billion in the second quarter

This content was published on

Sep 20, 2024

The Swiss economy posted a high current account surplus in the second quarter of 2024.

Read more: Current account surplus of 20 billion in the second quarter

More

Swiss National Park criticises wolf pack cull plans

This content was published on

Keystone/DPA/Martin Schutt

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

English (British)

Finma imposes heavy penalties on Mirabaud

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Tamedia merges editorial teams and cuts jobs

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

National Council wants to examine foreign investments more closely in future

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Hero takes over British food brand Deliciously Ella

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

English (British)

The lawsuit brought against Swiss banks by Holocaust survivors and their US lawyer, Ed Fagan, pictured speaking to reporters in Zurich in 1998, cast a pall over Swiss-US relations.

Keystone

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

The 15 medals were enough to give Switzerland third place overall.

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Stations that have recently been renovated or are still being renovated will remain open for another 30 years, Ducrot said.

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

More

One dead, 2 children seriously injured after car crashes into Geneva sports centre

This content was published on

Sep 15, 2024

An 80-year-old driver crashed into several children aged around ten on Saturday after losing control of her vehicle in Geneva, before succumbing to her injuries.

Read more: One dead, 2 children seriously injured after car crashes into Geneva sports centre

More

Swiss Centre Party leader says report on proposed federal

Swisscom still expects the deal to complete early 2025

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Baloise plans to adjust headcount to improve business performance.

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

SWISS had a poor punctuality record in the summer

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Artificial intelligence is expected to have a big impact on people’s lives.

Keystone

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Some 1.34 million people travel on Swiss federal railways every day.

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Demand for reinsurance is rising amid more natural disasters, wars and economic instability

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

More

Swiss Federal Railways reports lower profit, higher punctuality

This content was published on

Sep 9, 2024

Swiss Federal Railways made only half as much profit in the first half of 2024 as in the same period of the previous year.

Read more: Swiss Federal Railways reports lower profit, higher punctuality

More

Swiss Re sees demand for reinsurance rise amid natural disasters

Ribar speaking at the company’s annual media conference in March 2024.

Keystone / Alessandro Della Valle

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

English (British)

Improved results were driven by the increase in profit at industry leader Swiss Re.

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

A growing number of firms are going bust

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

The pharma sector saw growth in Switzerland

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Protest against GM food in Switzerland

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Sanctions against Russia have led to a rerouting of global gold trade flows.

Afp Or Licensors

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

More

Canton Graubünden wants to cull National Park wolf pack

This content was published on

Sep 3, 2024

Canton Graubünden blames the wolf pack for killing cattle in the region.

Read more: Canton Graubünden wants to cull National Park wolf pack

More

Swiss company bankruptcies on the rise

This content was published on

FDP Chairman Burkart calls for tax on immigration for businesses

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

New understanding of tourism to ensure sustainable development

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

New understanding of tourism to ensure sustainable development

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Keystone

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

English (British)

Meyer Burger stops solar cell production in Colorado

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Unia: Gap between highest and lowest wages is widening

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

More

Fight against skills shortage is insufficient, says Swiss audit office

This content was published on

Aug 27, 2024

The federal government has been providing the economy with financial support for years to alleviate the shortage of skilled workers. In a new report, the Swiss Federal Audit Office concludes that these measures have only had a limited effect. There is still a need for action.

Read more: Fight against skills shortage is insufficient, says Swiss audit office

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

English (British)

Hero jams will soon be produced abroad

Keystone

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

English (British)

The strong franc helped the SNB steer through inflation

Keystone / Ti-Press / Alessandro Crinari

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Swiss workers have seen pay rises eaten up by inflation

Keystone / Christian Beutler

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

UBS has completed the acquisition of the failed Credit Suisse bank

Keystone / Michael Buholzer

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Keystone / Gaetan Bally

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

English (British)

Some 143 drugs already approved in Europe or the US have not been given the green light in Japan, according to Japanese health ministry data from March 2023.

Philip Fong / AFP

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

The Swiss economy grew slightly faster than expected in the second quarter of 2024. Gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.5% on an adjusted basis between April and June 2024 compared to the previous quarter.

This content was published on

August 15, 2024 – 13:31

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

This growth was “slightly above average”, according to initial estimates by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco). Industry in particular contributed to growth, along with the services sector.

+ Read how different sectors of the Swiss economy are faring

Economists surveyed by AWP had only expected growth of 0.2 to 0.4%. In the first quarter, GDP had

The Swiss are once again tempted to buy a home, motivated by falling interest rates. But the Swiss real estate market remains constricted by supply that is far too low to meet demand, according to a study by the Raiffeisen banking group.

This content was published on

August 15, 2024 – 10:50

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

“Demand for residential property has recovered from the slump caused by rising interest rates” in 2022 and 2023, said Fredy Hasenmaile, Chief Economist at Raiffeisen, one of Switzerland’s leading mortgage lenders.

+ Why home ownership is a mirage for most Swiss

The Swiss National Bank’s (SNB) reduction in key interest rates in March has made

The trial of will probe payments made by Trafigura in Angola

Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

English (British)

Swisscom has filed a formal notification with the Italian competition authority concerning its mid-March acquisition of Vodafone Italia, in order to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals to finalise the €8 billion transaction.

This content was published on

August 13, 2024 – 15:04

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

The finalisation of this takeover “is on track overall”, said Swisscom on Tuesday in a press release, adding that it had already received the green light from the presidency of the Council of Ministers in Italy and the Competition Commission in Switzerland.

The operation still needs to be approved by other bodies, but is due to be completed in the first

Members of the Swiss Young Socialists party (JUSO) handing in the signatures for their initiative in Bern, February 8, 2024.

Keystone

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Mexico is an ideal location both geographically and economically. New registrations from Swiss companies are currently the order of the day.

Credit: Matt Gush / Alamy Stock Photo

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Could stock market jitters be a symptom of deeper problems?

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

Only one trio out of 30 finalists completed the course—a testament to the challenging task that demanded the utmost from horse and rider, overtaxing some of the duos.

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

More

Swiss breast cancer screening quality varies across cantons

This content was published on

Aug 6, 2024

The quality of breast cancer screening programmes in Switzerland varies from canton to canton. However, according to a study published on Tuesday, the results align with the European standard.

Read more: Swiss breast cancer screening quality varies across cantons

More

Swiss army neutralised 280 unexploded ordnances in 2023

More

Swiss breast cancer screening quality varies across cantons

This content was published on

Aug 6, 2024

The quality of breast cancer screening programmes in Switzerland varies from canton to canton. However, according to a study published on Tuesday, the results align with the European standard.

Read more: Swiss breast cancer screening quality varies across cantons

More

Swiss army neutralised 280 unexploded ordnances in 2023

More

Swiss breast cancer screening quality varies across cantons

This content was published on

Aug 6, 2024

The quality of breast cancer screening programmes in Switzerland varies from canton to canton. However, according to a study published on Tuesday, the results align with the European standard.

Read more: Swiss breast cancer screening quality varies across cantons

More

Swiss army neutralised 280 unexploded ordnances in 2023

UBP acquires Société Générale’s Swiss private banking business

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

The stock markets are likely to continue their downward trend

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

UBS Group AG was asked by a powerful US lawmaker about whether the bank it acquired, Credit Suisse Group AG, failed to report an American accused of evading taxes on $350 million (CHF307 million) in income.

The two countries plan to exchange financial data from 2027 to help both sides track down tax evaders. A corresponding new agreement was signed in Bern on Thursday, Switzerland’s finance ministry announced, although Swiss law will have to be amended before the change can be implemented.

Flying will become even more expensive next year when the Lufthansa Group starts charging a new type of environmental fee for flights. The fee will also be introduced at SWISS and Edelweiss.

Around 68,000 people moved to Switzerland from other European countries in 2023, attracted by the job opportunities, the Swiss authorities said on Monday. This is the second-highest figure since the agreement on the free movement of persons between the European Union and Switzerland came into force over 20 years ago.

In 2024, the tourism and travel industry is expected to reach, or even exceed, pre-pandemic levels. Francisco Betti is the co-author of a report on world tourism for the World Economic Forum (WEF). He believes firmly in the key role of technological progress in making the sector sustainable in the next 20 years.

Migros is slimming down further. A buyer has been found for Melectronics, the Group announced on Tuesday. The retailer also intends to divest further subsidiaries. This will result in additional redundancies.

Redistribution payments between regions will rise by 4.8% to CHF6.2 billion ($6.91 billion) in 2025, the Federal Finance Administration (FFA) said on Tuesday.

High incomes in the Swiss canton of Ticino will in future benefit from tax relief. A corresponding amendment to the law was approved by voters on Sunday. Compensatory measures for planned pension cuts for cantonal employees were also approved.

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) returned to a quarterly profit because of the weakness of the Swiss franc, potentially helping officials to rebuild the central bank’s depleted capital base.

The Zurich-based institution notched up a gain of CHF58.8 billion ($64 billion) in the first quarter, according to a statement on Thursday. That’s the strongest start to the year on record.

Redundancies at Switzerland’s largest bank will test the capacity of the financial sector to absorb jobs. A year ago Credit Suisse staff were stunned by the sudden demise of their bank. Many are now fighting for their careers with 3,000 Swiss posts set to be axed by their new employer UBS, starting this year.

UBS already has to build up additional equity capital because it has become much larger as a result of the Credit Suisse takeover, Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter said.

In March 2023, Credit Suisse collapsed. An uncontrolled bankruptcy could only be prevented by big government aid and an emergency merger with competitor UBS. Switzerland is now waiting for a parliamentary inquiry report to reveal who was at fault as the bank disintegrated.

Swiss CEOs are some of the best paid in Europe but compared to peers in the United States, their salaries look modest. Some in the Swiss pharmaceutical industry see this as a problem.

SWISS’ turnover totalled CHF5.3 billion ($6 billion) last year, the airline announced on Thursday, a significant increase on the previous year’s CHF4.4 billion, and a return to 2019 levels for the first time since the pandemic.

Since the beginning of the Ukraine war, Swiss exports to countries close to Russia have increased significantly – which points to a possible evasion of sanctions.

The wealthiest in society “must pay for the fight against the climate crisis”, said the group on Thursday as they handed in over 140,000 signatures for a people’s initiative.

India is close to finalising a first-of-its-kind trade deal that could see a small group of European nations invest as much as $100 billion (CHF87 billion) over 15 years in exchange for easier trade access to the world’s most populous nation, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang is visiting Switzerland this week. The official state visit by China’s second highest ranking official signals a renewal in Sino-Swiss ties and the kick-off of his “high-level exchange” with Europe. Here’s what you need to know about official Swiss-Chinese relations.

A Swiss banker has pleaded guilty to tax offences in the United States. Between 2008 and 2014, he allegedly helped wealthy US clients hide their assets from the US authorities in accounts at Zurich-based Ihag Privatbank.

Switzerland’s parliament has finalised the 2024 budget after agreeing to a CHF10 million cut on humanitarian funding.

Switzerland must reduce at least three-quarters of its carbon emissions in the Alpine country, the House of Representatives agreed on Wednesday.

The software company Concevis has been the victim of a cyber attack. Once again, federal government data is involved. The cybercriminals are threatening to publish the data on the darknet.

Commodities giant Glencore is taking control of Canadian Teck’s steelmaking coal business.

For the first time, the same number of passengers flew through Zurich Airport in October as before the coronavirus pandemic. The number of passengers rose significantly compared to the same month last year.

Black Friday, Cyber Monday and then Christmas shopping: many people in Switzerland will go on a shopping spree at the end of the year. However, Swiss Post is expecting a slightly lower flood of parcels this year than in 2022.

In Switzerland, rents for apartments on the market continued to rise in October. However, there were clear differences in the individual cantons. Across Switzerland, rents for new and re-rentable apartments – the so-called asking rents – rose by 0.4% in October compared to the previous month, according to the Homegate rent index published on Monday. The index advanced by 0.5 points to 123.8 points. 

Retail banks have increased investment in digital marketing by 16% in a bid to attract younger clients. 

The government wants to reduce the annual radio and television licence fee from the current CHF335 ($372) to CHF300 by 2029. The turnover threshold for companies to qualify for exemption has been raised from CHF500,000 to CHF1.2 million.

Anyone who owns an electric car in Switzerland will have to pay automobile tax from January 1.

The Federal Council decided on Wednesday to repeal this tax exemption for electric cars, which has been in effect since 1997.

Purchasing power in Switzerland is likely to remain under pressure next year. Companies surveyed by UBS want to pay their employees more wages for 2024, but higher salaries cannot compensate for the inflation.

This year’s potato harvest has been disappointing with growers expecting a drop of around a third compared with recent years. Yields are still difficult to estimate at the moment. The final figures will not be known until early December, Ruedi Fischer, President of the Swiss Potato Growers’ Association (USPPT), told press agency Keystone-SDA.

The European bison, a species that differs slightly from its north American cousin, died out in Europe. Now it is to be reintroduced in Switzerland. Can a densely populated country tolerate such a large wild animal?

Credit Suisse on Friday won a lawsuit at London’s High Court over the sale of $100 million (CHF90.47 million) of notes linked to residential mortgage-backed securities.

Swiss authorities and lenders, including UBS, are discussing new measures to prevent bank runs after Credit Suisse’s last-ditch rescue earlier this year, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The US Supreme Court considered reinstating a $900,000 (CHF810,000) jury verdict won by a fired UBS Group research strategist in a case that could make it easier for whistleblowers to win suits claiming retaliation under a federal investor-protection law.

Chinese companies are flocking to Switzerland to raise capital after being discouraged from listing in the US by geopolitical tensions and in Britain by tougher audit standards.

One of Credit Suisse’s longest-standing shareholders has sold its entire stake in the scandal-hit Swiss bank after losing patience with its strategy amid persistent losses and a client exodus.

Swiss banking secrecy used to be the bane of foreign countries trying to catch tax cheats. Now it’s the turn of Swiss journalists and historians to cry foul of laws that can hinder their work.

The number of new foreign workers moving to Switzerland on long-term contracts increased by a quarter last year compared to 2021, according to official statistics.

An appeals court in France has overturned a record fine imposed by the French competition authority against the Swiss pharmaceutical companies Novartis and Roche.

Profits at Swiss mining and trading group Glencore last year were boosted by the explosion in commodity prices. Thanks to a more than threefold increase in net profit, the Zug-based giant wants to double its shareholders’ remuneration, in particular through a share buyback.

The Swiss government has for the first time adopted a regional strategy for the Asia-Pacific region for the period 2023-2026. The move takes into account the growing importance of the southeast Asia region and complements the government’s China strategy, according to a government statement published on Wednesday.

Disappointing results leave no more room for accidents as the bank carries out restructuring. It has been a year since Axel Lehmann took over as chair of accident-prone Credit Suisse and about half that since Ulrich Körner became chief executive. But they have yet to stem the problems at Switzerland’s second-biggest bank, caused by a succession of historic scandals and mismanaged risk – from the blow-up of the Archegos family office to the Greensill supply chain finance affair.

Quantum physics is moving out of the lab and into the marketplace. Switzerland, a strong researcher in this field, doesn’t want to miss out and is launching its own quantum initiative. For now, though, it will have to make do without Europe.

The Swiss pharmaceutical industry should be less dependent on active ingredients from Asia, says the president of the industry umbrella organisation, pharmaSuisse. Martine Ruggli has called for new drug companies to be built in Europe.

Swiss citizens look set to vote on a people’s initiative to try to ensure their economy never becomes cashless. What do the campaigners behind the idea really want?

The president of the Swiss Employers’ Association wants to increase the potential workforce in Switzerland by 300,000 people. To achieve this, women, young people, the elderly and refugees must be integrated into the labour market or be given more work, said Valentin Vogt on Swiss public radio SRF on Saturday.

Widespread analysis of what went wrong at Credit Suisse converges on a constant theme: an international bank that lost touch with its Swiss roots, led by people who put profits ahead of prudence. 

Swiss commodities trading company Trafigura says it has been defrauded to the tune of $577 million (CHF530 million) by fake nickel shipments. The firm has launched legal action against a Dubai-based metals trader and the group of companies he runs out of the Middle East emirate.“

Around 3,500 public sector workers in the western Swiss canton of Vaud took part in a strike on Thursday. They are calling for wage indexation to keep up with inflation and rising living costs.

The Federal Audit Office says there needs to be more transparency around the various fees and taxes which fund Switzerland’s recycling system. The auditors wrote on Wednesday that CHF176 million ($192 million) in recycling taxes and fees were collected in 2019: these included state-organised prepaid disposal fees on glass and batteries, and voluntary, private sector-run contributions on PET packaging, aluminium, tin cans, electrical appliances and light bulbs.

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) says it will resume passenger flights to the Chinese city of Shanghai early next month following an easing of travel restrictions.

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) booked a CHF132 billion ($143 billion) loss in 2022 and suspended profit-sharing transfers to the Confederation and cantons. What does that mean exactly? And how does the SNB fare in international comparison? 

Fabio Canetg

More from this author

Last year, the SNB lost more money than ever before. And it is not alone: central banks around the world also recorded heavy losses. As a consequence, money from central banks in many countries ceased to flow to governments. Have other central banks suspended profit sharing? Yes. Besides the SNB, the central banks of Germany and The Netherlands will not pay out profits this year, along with most regional branches of the United States Federal Reserve. Britain even expects £230 billion (CHF260 billion)

In response to Russia’s war on Ukraine, the Swiss multinational Nestlé announced that it would reduce its range of product in Russia to “essential” goods such as baby milk. But supermarket shelves in Moscow paint a different picture, according to the NZZ.

Switzerland’s largest telecommunications operator, Swisscom, is changing its approach to data disclosure in order better protect its customers. The operator reserves the right, after examination, to "seal" the electronic correspondence (e-mails) of its customers until a court has decided otherwise, the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper reported.

China, Russia, Iran and other countries with dictatorships and strict regimes are increasingly blocking access to the free internet and are using the web to collect data. This guide explains how to avoid online censorship and use the internet safely and anonymously.

Swiss journalists could in future receive leaked bank data without fear of criminal prosecution if a parliamentary motion is incorporated in banking secrecy legislation.

Solar panel installations are only profitable in half of Swiss cities according to a new study. This could create hurdles for the expansion of solar energy in the country.

With an eye on possible shortages next winter, the government plans to repeat this year’s mitigation strategy of buying reserve stocks. The decision is a repeat of what the government already outlined in May 2022: to head off possible winter gas shortages, authorities want to ensure that the country has six terawatt hours’ worth of gas in reserve stocks in neighbouring countries.

UBS enjoyed a 23% rise in pre-tax profits in the final quarter as it benefited from clients switching from rival Credit Suisse. The Swiss bank on Tuesday reported $1.7 billion (CHF1.58 billion) of net profit in the final three months of 2022, comfortably ahead of analyst estimates of $1.3 billion, bringing the group’s profit for the year to $7.6 billion.

The bill comes to CHF410 million. The amount demanded by the Geneva revenue administration from French billionaire Pierre Castel has drawn the attention of the international press and made waves locally.

Swiss small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) geared to the Asian market are relocating their production to Vietnam, Thailand or India. With such a second location, companies can prepare for a possible escalation in China, according to a top export promoter.

“We’re seeing a trend: ‘China+1’,” said Simone Wyss Fedele, head of export promotion organisation Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE), in an interview with the Schweiz am Wochenende.The diversification of companies is currently focused on regionalisation in international trade, she said. “Companies are locating development and production for Asia in Asia, for Europe in Europe and for America in America. Globalisation is becoming regional.”
More
More

ʿPeople in China are no longer so optimisticʾ

Oct 31, 2022
A former Swiss

The Swiss government is sitting on a mountain of hygiene masks, bought for the Covid-19 pandemic, and is now desperately looking for alternative uses so they don’t have to be destroyed, according to the SonntagsZeitung.

Despite public and political pressure, the mass exodus of Western firms from Russia hasn’t materialised according to a recent study. Why aren’t more cutting ties with Russia despite pledges to do so?

The volume of venture capital that helps aspiring companies get off the ground in Switzerland quadrupled to CHF4 billion ($3.7 billion) between 2017 and 2022.

Chinese travel agencies will soon offer tourists 20 destinations around the world. Switzerland, which does not require a Covid test, is one of only two European countries on the list.

Last year Swiss watch exports surpassed CHF24 billion ($26 billion) for the first time. The positive trend is expected to continue into 2023. Journalist and deputy head of the swissinfo.ch editorial group for German, French and Italian. Earlier, worked for Teletext and Switzerland’s French-language national broadcaster.

Alain Berset told his ministerial colleagues on Wednesday that he had no knowledge of leaks from his department to the media. In public however Berset remains reluctant to give further information.

Despite the volatile situation on financial markets and the war in Ukraine, the number of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) reached a record high in Switzerland in 2022.

Swiss exports of pharmaceuticals to Russia, which are not subject to sanctions, reached a 30-year record last year, buoyed by high prices. Roche, Novartis and the other Swiss pharma companies brought in CHF2.1 billion ($2.3 billion) from the export of pharmaceuticals to Russia in 2022.

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) will make a loss of CHF132 billion in 2022, and distribution of profits to the confederation and the cantons will be suspended. What does this mean for the stability of the SNB and what would happen if it faces another large loss?

Geneva airport was expected to see the return of direct flights from China next week, but the scheduled Air China flights of January 26 and February 2 have been cancelled due to lack of passengers, reports Swiss public broadcaster RTS.

Swiss pharmaceuticals group Roche, logistics company Kühne+Nagel and luxury goods group Richemont are among the world’s top 100 family businesses, according to a study by EY Switzerland.

The crypto sector appears to be suffering an existential crisis, shedding jobs, client funds and credibility. Switzerland looks to have escaped with a glancing blow – if industry data is anything to go by.

Food companies making big profits as inflation has surged should face windfall taxes to help cut global inequality, anti-poverty group Oxfam said on Monday as the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) gets underway in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos.

UBS chairman Colm Kelleher says Switzerland’s largest bank needs to expand its wealth management business in the US to compete with the big Wall Street banks.

US and Swiss authorities have agreed to share inspection documents on pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities in a move to improve efficiency and safety in the drug supply chain.

Rents in Switzerland rose by an average of 2.8% last year, the largest annual increase in 14 years. Switzerland is unique in Europe with the majority of residents living in rented accommodation.

Global stability is most threatened by rising food and energy costs, climate-related disasters and the risk of further military conflict, according to 1,200 experts canvassed by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Switzerland’s Tête de Moine (Monk’s Head) cheese broke all-time sales and production records last year, due particularly to its “conviviality”, according to the sector’s president.

The rate of unemployment in Switzerland fell to 2.2% last year, the lowest rate in 20 years, according to official statistics. At the same time, trade unions complained that wages were too low for many workers and demanded more pay. On Monday, the State Secretariat for Economic affairs (Seco) said the jobless rate fell from 3% in 2021 to 2.2% last year.

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has posted an annual loss of CHF132 billion ($143 billion) for 2022, the biggest in its 115-year history. “The loss on foreign currency positions amounted to around CHF131 billion and the loss on Swiss franc positions was around CHF1 billion. A valuation gain of CHF400 million was recorded on gold holdings,” the SNB said in a statement on Monday.

Data centres are expanding rapidly in Switzerland, with such facilities already accounting for 4% of national energy – more than the farming sector.

Visitors travelling to the mountain town of Davos for this month’s World Economic Forum (WEF) could face pricey rates, according to Swiss media. The Schweiz am Wochenende newspaper writes on Saturday that a three-bed studio in the canton Graubünden town costs CHF2,600 ($2,800) per night during the WEF, runs from January 16-20. With service charges and cleaning, this comes to CHF15,000 for the five nights of the event, the paper writes.

A former top lobbyist for Uber says the firm wilfully ignored regulations when it began operating in Switzerland in 2013. Uber says it has since updated its working model. By choosing to act first and apologise later in implementing its gig-economy model, Uber “massively undermined” democracy in many countries, including Switzerland, former lobbyist Mark MacGann told Tamedia newspapers on Saturday.

While countries around the world impose curbs on travellers from China as Covid-19 cases there surge, the Swiss authorities are still weighing up possible measures.

On Wednesday health experts from the 27 EU member states couldn’t agree on compulsory testing for travellers from China, but they strongly recommended it.The EU health experts also recommended, among other things, that medical or FFP2 masks be worn on aircraft from China.The Federal Office of Public Health told the Swiss News Agency Keystone-SDA on Thursday that it acknowledged the results of the meeting and was examining them in the light of epidemiological criteria.Also on Thursday Germany, Sweden and Belgium ordered compulsory testing for travellers from China. Several EU states, such as Italy, France and Spain, have

A total of 50,015 companies set up in Switzerland last year thanks to a late surge in the last quarter. The number of new firms entering the marketplace has remained stable. The total corresponds to a drop of 1% compared to 2021 and an increase of 7% compared to 2020, according to data from commercial registers compiled by Help.ch published on Tuesday. 

Around one in four new cars purchased last year in Switzerland were either 100% electric or plug-in hybrid models. The country’s best-selling model was an electric car: the Tesla Model Y, the Swiss eMobility association reported on Monday.

The Swiss population is set to surpass the 9 million mark in 2023, according to calculations by the SonntagsZeitung.

From getting a drone licence to paying for Covid tests, here’s a selection of ten legal tweaks that came into force in Switzerland on January 1. AIRLINES: Passengers can claim more compensation for delayed or lost luggage – up to around CHF1,640 ($1,770). Previously it was CHF1,520. The tedious paperwork hasn’t changed, however.

Firms invested CHF16.8 billion ($18 billion) in research and development (R&D) activities in Switzerland last year, a 4% increase compared to 2019.

Switzerland plans to enact laws to prevent price manipulation and insider trading in its domestic energy markets.

Growth forecasts for Switzerland have been revised downwards for the current year and 2023 by the KOF Swiss Economic Institute, amid fears of a global recession and the war in Ukraine. The economists also changed their predictions for inflation.

Swiss consumers have budgeted more for Christmas presents this year despite the growing spectre of inflation. The average shopper plans to splash out CHF343 ($367) on presents, up CHF9 from the average spend in 2021.

Switzerland is the global leader in metal recycling, a lucrative business that attracts international interest. We visit a pioneering Swiss waste disposal and recycling plant with a delegation from Japan.

When Credit Suisse asked its board member Michael Klein to find capital to help its painful restructuring push, the former Citibank executive with ties in the Middle East ended up in a series of meetings with a powerful Saudi bank little known outside the Gulf.

Swiss cement giant Holcim said on Wednesday it would leave Russia, adding that the business there would then operate independently under a different brand.

The Swiss multinational Nestlé says it will invest CHF40 million ($42. million) to launch a new production facility in western Ukraine.

Swiss Federal Railways has launched a new timetable, which offers more regional services and direct links between eastern and western Switzerland, and additional connections to popular tourist regions.

Switzerland’s 26 cantons will receive 75% of the additional revenue from the minimum taxation of large companies, the government 25%. On Tuesday the House of Representatives agreed with the Senate on the proposal to tax all companies with a turnover of more than €750 million (CHF740 million) at 15%, in line with a reform decided by the OECD and the G20.

Many retirees in Switzerland can continue to put money aside, with a majority also willing to bequeath the money they have saved. Specifically, 34% of the people surveyed in Switzerland aged 65 and over are building up assets instead of reducing them, according to a Swiss Life survey published on Wednesday.

Credit Suisse is “definitely stable”, Chairman Axel Lehmann has told Swiss public television, SRF, adding that the embattled bank had seen a stabilisation in the outflows of client funds.

Swiss ski resorts are gearing up for their biggest winter season since the Covid-19 pandemic. But soaring power prices in the wake of the Ukraine war have resort managers scrambling to find ways to save energy.

Simon Bradley

Born in London, Simon is a multimedia journalist who has worked for www.swissinfo.ch since 2006. He speaks French, German and Spanish and focuses on science, technology and innovation issues.

More from this author
| English Department

The first ski slopes opened in the Swiss Alps in early November thanks to fresh snow in high-mountain regions.After two winters of Covid restrictions, tourism officials have expressed guarded optimism about this season. The number of hotel stays should rise by 1% compared to the pre-pandemic level thanks to the return of

Online media replaced television as the most influential media genre in Switzerland for the first time in 2021, according to a study. Large brands such as 20 Minuten and Swiss public radio and television, SRF, lost influence in favour of smaller titles.

Swiss bank Credit Suisse is looking for ways to accelerate cost cuts announced just weeks ago as client outflows and a slowdown in activity weigh on its revenue outlook, according to three people with knowledge of the talks.

The cost savings are likely to involve more job cuts than previously announced for the first wave of reductions, including in its mainstay wealth business, said the sources, who asked to remain anonymous because the discussions are private.Credit Suisse is cutting about 5% of its private banking headcount in the Asian financial hub of Hong Kong, two of the sources told the Reuters news agency, targeting mainly mid- and junior-level bankers, in cuts that go deeper than reductions outlined before.Credit Suisse declined to comment on job cuts in the Hong Kong

Construction workers and trade unions in Switzerland have reached an agreement in a long-running labour dispute. Builders will receive CHF150 ($158) more a month in effective wages from next year and minimum wages will increase by CHF100 a month.

The head of Credit Suisse’s Swiss division says that only a few clients are actually closing accounts at the bank. His comments after the troubled bank reported high customer fund withdrawals globally.

Some ski lift companies are charging up to 15% more for passes this winter as high energy prices bite, a survey by CH Media shows.

The world’s largest goods inspection and testing group SGS will shed 1,500 jobs worldwide in a cost saving drive.

In case of a shortage, households and businesses which heat with piped gas would be asked to lower temperatures to 20°C, the government has said.

The Swiss health authorities and the manufacturer AstraZeneca are at loggerheads over a nasal spray to vaccinate children and adolescents against influenza.

Economic researcher Jan-Egbert Sturm expects the Swiss economy to stagnate in the next few months. The director of the Swiss Economic Institute (KOF) at Federal Institute ETH Zurich, said Switzerland had been been quite resilient in the current economic environment.

A pear-shaped 18-carat pink diamond billed as a rarity has sold at a Geneva auction for CHF28.4 million ($28.8 million), including fees and taxes.

Police have searched two branches of Swiss bank UBS in Germany in connection with alleged money laundering by a Russian businessman, according to German officials and media.

Stock markets this year have been heading steadily downhill. With Swiss pension funds feeling the impact, future retirement payments are only barely guaranteed.

Switzerland has made progress in reforming tax rates for multinational companies but still has work to do when it comes to turning a blind eye to tax avoidance.

A court in Zurich has rejected an appeal by the renowned Swiss art collector and financier Urs Schwarzenbach in two cases of tax evasion in connection with the import of works of art.

The embattled Swiss bank Credit Suisse plans to shed 540 jobs in Switzerland by the end of the year, Chief Executive Officer Ulrich Körner told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper. In the interview he gave more details on last week’s restructuring announcement.

Swiss hotels and holiday apartments are raising their prices by around 5% this winter, largely due to higher energy prices. Ski passes are also likely to go up by a similar amount, a newspaper reports.

Swiss bank Credit Suisse has returned to the Middle East to shore up its finances amid mounting losses and a deteriorating balance sheet.

The coronavirus pandemic will have a lighter impact on Swiss state finances than previously feared but will still put the country’s budget in the red, the finance ministry forecasts.

Swiss bank Credit Suisse is shedding thousands of jobs, selling off parts of its business and raising billions in extra capital in a bid to reverse a downward spiral in fortunes.

The Swiss government has pledged to install solar panels on as many federal buildings as possible to help boost the production of energy from renewable sources.

The inhabitants of Vernier, a municipality in Geneva, are set to have their say on banning advertising billboards.

The Swiss government has proposed amending the Tobacco Act to introduce a new tax for electronic cigarettes.

Credit Suisse Group and the French financial prosecution office have agreed to settle a tax fraud and money laundering case in France with a €238 million (CH234 million) payment to the state, a French court heard on Monday.

Ticket prices for Swiss public transport will remain stable for 2023 for the seventh consecutive year. Only “a few tourist businesses” are planning to adjust their fares for next year, says the SwissPass Alliance.

Swiss Economics Minister Guy Parmelin assumes the energy crisis will last several years. It is important, he says, not only to think about the winter, but to do everything to ensure that Switzerland produces more energy – that means more renewable energies and greater efficiency.

A 48-year-old businessman in Geneva has been given a two-year suspended prison sentence for making a fraudulent claim for a Covid loan that was 100 times the correct amount. He was found guilty of fraud and forgery of documents.

Leading Swiss brands have withdrawn from Russia because of the war in Ukraine. However, research by a Swiss newspaper shows that while a company can leave a country, its products often remain on shelves.

Switzerland has launched an Energy Saving Alliance of companies, government, cantons, civil society and municipalities in an effort to preserve gas and electricity supplies over the winter.

Building large solar parks in high-mountain regions is arguably an effective way to produce more power in winter and accelerate the energy transition. But it remains controversial in Switzerland, where environmental groups have contested planned installations.

The Swiss government has put forward plans to create reserve power plants aimed at shoring up the country’s energy supplies during the winter.

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) is planning to expand its flight schedule next summer to offer 85% of its pre-pandemic capacity. To this end, it is now busy recruiting flight attendants.

Credit Suisse is preparing to sell parts of its Swiss domestic bank as it attempts to close a capital hole of around CHF4.5 billion, according to people briefed on the discussions.

Credit Suisse has agreed to pay $495 million (CHF496 million) to settle a case brought against it in the United States, the latest pay-out related to past blunders that have battered the Swiss bank’s reputation.

Dozens of taxi drivers staged a strike in Geneva to protest a decision by the authorities to allow the ride-hailing company to resume business in the Swiss city.

Cornelia Ritz Bossicard leads swissVR, an independent Swiss association of board members. She explains the role that boards of directors and their members play in steering businesses.

The Swiss government has asked the finance ministry to draft a bill to increase transparency of beneficial owners of legal entities to help tackle financial crime.

The United Nations’ Security Council goal was to ensure the collective security of humanity. Seventy years after its creation the five-member council needs a massive shakeup if it is to address today’s challenges argues Hassan Nafaa, professor of Political Science at Cairo University.

As daunting first weeks go, Dixit Joshi’s takes some beating. After a weekend of damaging speculation on social media about the impending collapse of Credit Suisse, Joshi started as the bank’s chief financial officer last Monday with its share price plumbing new lows and a gauge of default risk spiralling higher.

Five additional countries, including Nigeria, now benefit from an automatic exchange of banking information with Switzerland, taking the total to over 100 for the first time. 

The ride-hailing company says it will offer drivers the possibility of remaining independent or becoming official employees of a subcontractor firm.

The fluctuating price of bitcoin bears a repetitive hallmark: true believers hoard the vast majority of bitcoin in circulation and wait for the next wave of new disciples to push up the value by fighting for the scraps.

The KOF economic institute has joined other forecasting agencies to lower its predictions for the Swiss economy. However, the experts do not expect a recession for the time being.

Chief financial officers (CFOs) are more pessimistic about the economic outlook for Switzerland than they were six months ago, according to a survey conducted by Deloitte for the second half of 2022.

Agricultural income in Switzerland grew slightly in 2021 to reach an average of CHF80,700 ($81,765) per farm, according to latest statistics.

The energy crisis is causing electricity prices to soar across Europe, including in Switzerland. But the impact on the country is very unequal because of specific characteristics of its market.  

Senior Credit Suisse executives spent the weekend reassuring large clients, counterparties and investors about the Swiss bank’s liquidity and capital position in response to concerns raised about its financial strength.

Electricity consumption in Switzerland remained at normal levels last month despite a government appeal for households and industry to make savings.

The Swiss franc has hit an all-time high against the euro. Even though it trades at an unprecedented CHF0.95 to the euro, the strong franc no longer poses a threat to the Swiss economy. What has changed in the last ten years? 

Landlords and tenants are opposing government calls to reduce household heating to 19 degrees Celsius, warning it might spark a flurry of lawsuits.

Not one hacker managed to penetrate the Swiss Post’s e-voting system during a security test, according to Swiss Post. The system withstood 60,000 attacks.

The biggest two Swiss Banks have each been fined $200 million (CHF199 million) as part of a large-scale US investigation into the failure to preserve electronic communications.

Pensions in Switzerland should in future be topped up to fully account for the rising cost of consumer goods, parliament has agreed.

Troubled Swiss bank Credit Suisse has sought to quieten rampant speculation about its upcoming strategic revamp following leaks to the media and concerns of its staff.

While the pension reform, which raises the retirement age for women from 64 to 65, was narrowly accepted in Sunday’s vote, the Swiss Abroad were more strongly in favour. The majority of voting expats were also in favour of abolishing factory farming and withholding tax unlike resident citizens.

Pauline Turuban

My specialty is telling stories, and decoding what happens in Switzerland and the world from accumulated data and statistics. An expatriate in Switzerland for several years, I have also worked as a multimedia journalist for the Swiss national broadcaster.

More from this author
| French Department

Like their compatriots, the Swiss Abroad voted on Sunday in favour of both the pension reforms in Switzerland. But while the amendment to the law, which raises the

Voters in Switzerland’s biggest canton have overwhelmingly approved a new article to promote a cleaner and more efficient use of resources.

Voters have thrown out a decision by parliament to scrap withholding tax on interest from Swiss bonds. Final results show 52% of voters coming out against the reform, which was aimed at boosting investment in Switzerland as well as strengthening the country’s competitiveness and its finance industry.

By normal standards, interest rates of 0.5% are considered low. But Switzerland has just emerged from a long period of negative interest after the Swiss National Bank (SNB) raised rates from -0.25% to +0.5%.

The Swiss government has given the green light to begin the construction of a temporary reserve power plant due to be operational from February next year.

The world’s richest people saw their wealth expand last year as stock markets and real estate gained in value, according to Swiss bank Credit Suisse.

Swiss economic growth forecasts for 2022 and 2023 have been revised significantly downwards, amid uncertainty over energy supply and inflation.

The Swiss government lacks up-to-date information on national electricity production and consumption, according to the Swiss Federal Office of Energy. This is due to the lack of digitalisation of the electricity companies. The lack of information was a focal point of Sunday news report amid rising concerns over an energy crunch in Europe as Russia’s war in Ukraine drags on.

The Swiss competition commission (COMCO) has opened an investigation into suspected unlawful use of a patent to reduce competitive pressure by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis.

Switzerland’s largest car importer, AMAG, plans to sell purely electric powered vehicles from 2040 and is diversifying into solar systems and heat pumps.

Despite being one of the world’s richest countries, Switzerland also faces the threat of an energy shortage in the coming months. The authorities are scrambling to prepare.

Switzerland’s House of Representatives has approved the purchase of new F-35 fighter jets from the United States. The decision clears the path for Bern to sign the purchase contract, even though an initiative to prevent the deal has not been voted on by Swiss voters.

A reform of the Swiss old age pension system has lost ground but is still likely to win a majority in a nationwide vote later this month, pollsters say. 

By reducing grid connection fees and municipal duties, the federal government could help to keep electricity bills down, Stefan Meierhans told Le Matin Dimanche newspaper. Meierhans said it is possible for the government to change the framework conditions that would allow a lowering of fees for using the grid.

Having two big players like UBS and Credit Suisse provides no “compelling” economic benefit for Switzerland, Sergio Ermotti has told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper.

Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis is investing $300 million ($288 million) in biotherapeutics development, which includes a new $100 million biologics hub at its home base in Basel.

As the world’s second-largest cocoa producer continues to lose swathes of farmland to illegal gold mining, Switzerland’s chocolate makers are waking up to the threat to their raw material supply.

Many Swiss dream of owning a single-family home in the countryside and passing it on to their children. For most, this dream is increasingly unrealistic.

The Swiss company behind the Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 has received a four-month extension to try to repay its debts. 

Switzerland has returned as a popular destination for foreigners looking for work after two years of Covid-19 restrictions. Over 75,000 people have immigrated to Switzerland so far in 2022, driven largely by an economic boom and unemployment levels falling to a 20-year low.

The president of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), Thomas Jordan, says the inflation outlook is more uncertain than normal and it is premature to say prices have peaked. “You cannot say we have passed the zenith and now it is certainly heading lower,” Jordan told a Finanz and Wirtschaft financial conference on Thursday.“

Switzerland has a social security network that covers risks in many areas – work, health, family and old age. 

Switzerland’s economic output slowed to 0.3% between April and the end of June, compared to the first quarter of the year. The manufacturing, construction, trade and financial services sectors all showed signs of weakening in the face of energy shortages and rising inflation.

An innovative pilot project testing the potential of electric cars to stabilise the power grid has been launched in Switzerland.

Troubled cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX is charting its revival in Switzerland after the platform and its three co-founders were prosecuted in the United States.

Embattled Swiss bank Credit Suisse is planning to cut around 10% of its workforce as part of a major cost cutting drive, according to several media reports.

High energy prices have forced a steel mill in Switzerland to prepare for short-time working to avoid layoffs.   

Swiss digital assets bank Sygnum will open a branch in the metaverse to reach more clients seeking blockchain-based financial services. Sygnum was one of two banks that were awarded licenses in 2019 to connect traditional finance with cryptocurrencies and the blockchain. Blockchain and other Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) databases provide a home for digital currencies and other assets, such as company shares, collectibles and art.

Fears of an electricity shortage in Switzerland appear to have had a positive effect on the expansion of solar energy. The Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) expects the market to grow by around 50% in 2022.

The cost of goods and services in Switzerland rose 3.5% in August compared to the same month last year, but the inflation rate still remains below that of many other countries.

The Swiss government has appealed to the population to save on household energy ahead of anticipated electricity and gas shortages this winter.

Swiss legislation is lagging behind in the fight against money laundering, and “seldom anticipates developments at international level”, the Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) has warned.

Healthcare costs, the pension system and climate change are the top three burning issues for the Swiss, according to a survey published by the Tamedia group. Covid has slipped out of sight and mind.

The head of the Swiss Federal Electricity Commission (Elcom) reckons a winter energy crisis is virtually unavoidable. However, he said the cause of the problem – war in Ukraine – was also difficult to predict.

The GoldenPass Express (GPX) panoramic train, which will link Montreux to Interlaken without any station changes, will make its debut on December 11. 

Of the 1,400 job cuts announced by the pharma giant in Switzerland, up to half of them will involve staff in leadership positions, the company said on Monday. For these executive roles, the consultation process has been finalised, and the first individuals concerned will be informed “in the coming weeks”, said the head of Novartis Switzerland Matthias Leuenberger at a media event in Zurich.

Switzerland’s busiest airport has posted a CHF55 million ($57 million) net profit for the first six months of the year as post-pandemic air travel picks up.

The Swiss Federal Electricity Commission (Elcom) has laid out plans to hold back hydropower reserves to help compensate for anticipated energy shortages this winter.

Leading voices from business and politics have called on the Swiss government – and in particular economy minister Guy Parmelin – to do more about possible energy and gas shortages over the winter.

The threat of energy shortages in Switzerland this winter should not be over-dramatised, Economics Minister Guy Parmelin has said in response to growing calls at the weekend for government action.

The Andermatt Swiss Alps (ASA) company, majority owned by Egyptian financier Samih Sawiris, is to build a new 1,800-bed Alpine resort in the Sedrun region in southeast Switzerland.

The Swiss government and cantons are aiming to be prepared for “extreme scenarios” in the face of possible energy shortages this winter, a top cantonal security official says. For example, a power grid shutdown or blackout would have far-reaching consequences, Fredy Fässler, the president of the Conference of Cantonal Justice and Police Directors, said in an interview published in the tabloid Blick on Saturday.

Despite leading in latest polls, a proposed ban on factory farming in Switzerland has limited chances of success at the ballot box next month, pollsters say. A reform of the old age pension scheme enjoys more solid backing. 

Credit Suisse Group applied to the English High Court last week to initiate formal legal proceedings against Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp over a $440 million (CHF414 million) dispute, according to the Financial Times.

A large alpine solar power plant is to be installed on the dam wall of Lake Lei near Ferrera in southeastern Switzerland. The 1,800 square-metre plant is being built by the Zurich Electricity Company. Located at an altitude of 1,930 metres, the plant will comprise more than 1,000 solar units with a total output of 350 kilowatts, equivalent to the consumption of 160 households.

Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis has met the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in Ticino, southern Switzerland. The working lunch on the Brissago Islands in Lake Maggiore focused on the economy and finance, education, research and innovation, and sustainable development, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

A bank client attaches her ‘non-fungible token’ personal identity to a digital wallet, containing both traditional money and cryptocurrencies, and accesses decentralised financial investments via the metaverse.

The Swiss Post’s e-vote system is opening itself to attacks by ethical hackers in an effort to weed out security flaws. The window for the test runs until September 2, during which time hackers will be able to launch attacks on the source code under realistic conditions, Swiss Post said on Monday.

The Swiss financial regulator (FINMA) has extended previously imposed protective measures at the Zurich-based subsidiary of Russian bank Sberbank.

A new survey has confirmed a growing role of debit and credit cards as popular payment method in Switzerland. Some 52% of respondents in a survey said either of the cards were absolutely indispensable for them, the independent online comparison service, moneyland.ch, said.

The energy crisis in Europe continues to make headlines in Switzerland. This was reflected in the Sunday press which focused on German pressure on Switzerland to implement a gas saving plan, a petition to speed up hydroelectric projects and a spike in Swiss demand for electric heaters in anticipation of a difficult winter.

Nearly two out of three Swiss (64%) believe that Swiss government members do not work smoothly together, according to a survey carried out by the Sotomo research institute.

The humanitarian charity Swiss Solidarity raised CHF126 million ($132.4 million) to help Ukrainian refugees and support local journalists. But Ukrainian authorities say they have yet to receive anything and appear to be getting impatient. 

Swiss air navigation service provider Skyguide says it is struggling to recruit air traffic controllers, especially in French-speaking Switzerland. Only five people are starting training in September, although there are 16 posts to be filled.

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has taken a hit of CHF95.2 billion ($100 billion) for the first half of this year, mainly owing to losses on foreign currency positions.

Swiss exports of medicines to Russia have risen sharply since the start of the Ukraine war, according to an analysis by business news agency AWP.

The Swiss national carrier is cancelling around a dozen flights to Germany on Wednesday, owing to a one-day strike by ground staff at its German parent company Lufthansa.

Swiss retail banks make the most profit per customer among wealthy nations, according to an international ranking.

Switzerland could face electricity and gas shortages in winter despite sufficient supplies at the moment and considerable reserves, experts say.

Wealth manager Julius Bär has joined a growing list of Swiss banks that will no longer pass on the cost of negative interest rates to clients.

United Nations and Turkey-led negotiations with Moscow and Kyiv to allow Ukrainian grain exports to resume in the Black Sea are moving forward. But even if a deal is signed, its impact to alleviate the food crisis could take months.

Switzerland’s customs and border security authorities have seized more than 230 packages of illegally imported counterfeit medical products.

The ongoing war in Ukraine has been partly blamed for losses at a prominent Swiss asset management company. The entire Swiss industry suffered a dip in fortunes in the first six months of year as extreme market volatility reduced the value of investments and caused clients to play safe with their money.

Russia has threatened Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung with legal action after it published critical reports and a caricature of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Six of the world’s biggest commodity traders have committed to help some of their largest indirect suppliers source soy sustainably in Brazil’s vulnerable Cerrado region.

Plant-based dairy products continue to gain in popularity in Switzerland, with sales of plant-based milk more than doubling since 2017. However, dairy substitutes still occupy a niche in the overall market.

Almost every second flight from Zurich Airport has been delayed since the beginning of June, with travellers facing more delays this summer.

The BAK Economics market research institute has confirmed its forecast for the Swiss economy this year, but it is more pessimistic about 2023.

The price of bitcoin has plummeted to a third of its peak value, an experimental cryptocurrency called Terra has crashed in spectacular fashion and several crypto companies have shed jobs or are faced with bankruptcy. Where does this leave the growing blockchain industry in Switzerland?

The Swiss interior minister, Alain Berset, on a private flight in neighbouring France has been forced to land by the French air force.

The price of bitcoin has been in freefall in recent weeks, but that doesn’t seem to bother the most conservative of financial institutions – the banking arm of the Swiss post office. PostFinance is stepping up its drive to grant customers access to cryptocurrencies within the next couple of years.

The word “cooperative” is everywhere in Swiss daily life. What’s often forgotten is that cooperatives were once at the forefront of a worldwide movement that advocated for consumer rights, affordable rents – and world peace.

Despite record public donations for Ukraine, four months since the start of the invasion by Russia, Swiss aid agencies have only been able to spend a small amount of the funds on humanitarian work.

France offered Switzerland a financial sweetener, worth an estimated CHF3.5 billion, to buy its Rafale fighter jets rather than US F-35A aircraft, according to a secret document seen by Swiss public broadcaster SRF. The document sheds light on background negotiations as Switzerland seeks to replace its ageing fleet of fighter jets.

Newspaper editors in Switzerland offered praise mixed with criticism on the two-day international conference in Lugano to support war-torn Ukraine with its reconstruction efforts.

More intense and frequent heatwaves have caused demand for air conditioning to skyrocket, even in temperate countries like Switzerland. But there is a catch: the cooler the buildings, the warmer the planet.

The Swiss economy has recovered well from the Covid-19 crisis, but despite the free movement of people agreement with the EU, some sectors are struggling to recruit qualified staff, says a government report.

The president of the Swissgas industry platform says Switzerland is not aware of how fragile the situation is and that “it would not take much” to lead to a winter shortage. André Dosé told the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) newspaper on Thursday that looming gas shortages elsewhere in Europe and exploding prices amounted to a “huge problem” for Swiss supplies.

Switzerland will double its aid to Ukraine to CHF100 million ($104 million) by the end of 2023, Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis announced at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in the Swiss city of Lugano.

The price of household goods for Swiss consumers rose 3.4% in June compared to the same month last year, led by the surging cost of fuel and heating oil. “Inflation, which has de facto been absent for more than a decade, is back with a vengeance,” said economic forecast group BAK Economics.

Ten years after it discovered the Higgs boson, the world’s biggest particle accelerator is poised to smash together protons at record energy levels at the CERN particle physics laboratory near Geneva, as scientists resume their search for clues to the origins of the universe.

Energy Minister Simonetta Sommaruga has warned of possible shortages of natural gas in Switzerland during the winter months

How to set Ukraine on the path to recovery will be the focus of a major international conference hosted by Switzerland in Lugano in early July. But that may be easier said than done with war still raging in parts of the country and lingering concerns about corruption.

An unexpected spike in Switzerland’s gold imports from Russia is under scrutiny as the leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations gear up to introduce a ban on the precious metal.

New technologies, developed to improve our society, are increasingly being used to wage war. Switzerland, which leads the development of autonomous drones, is very much affected by this phenomenon.

A group of Volkswagen dealers in southern Switzerland has been fined CHF44 million ($46 million) by the Federal Competition Commission (Comco). The seven cartel members, including car importer AMAG, had fixed the prices of new Volkswagen cars for years.

Switzerland’s central bank is buying lower volumes of foreign currencies to support the franc as it balances the needs of exporters with the rising cost of goods.

Negative costs on third parties caused by transport in Switzerland amounted to CHF14 billion ($14.7 billion) in 2019. The damage mainly affects the environment and climate, but also health.

Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis is laying off more than one in ten employees in Switzerland over the next three years – 1,400 of 11,600 jobs will go. It also plans to cut 8,000 of 108,000 jobs worldwide.

Around 20 traders have reportedly increased their shipments of Russian oil since the war in Ukraine broke out. A third of these players have strong connections to Geneva, according to the newspaper Le Matin Dimanche.

Additional cancellations of SWISS flights are “unavoidable” because of staff shortages, a company spokesperson told the Keystone-SDA news agency on Sunday.

Switzerland will implement from 2024 the minimum tax rate for large multinational firms under a global tax deal. The federal government will get a quarter and regional and local authorities three-quarters of revenue, it said on Thursday, outlining how the deal would be implemented.

The government has presented plans for an upgrade of the country’s railway network, including an additional Alpine tunnel in western Switzerland. About CHF720 million ($745 million) have been set aside to upgrade the Lötschberg base tunnel and other regional projects near Zürich and Geneva in the next decade.

Refugees with a special legal status will be able to exchange a limited amount of Ukranian banknotes for Swiss francs. The Swiss government on Wednesday announced that adults with a protection S status may exchange one amount of up to 10,000 hryvnia – the equivalent of CHF300 ($310.50) at selected branches of the two main Swiss banks, UBS and Credit Suisse.

January used to be a big month for Swiss bankers and their Russian clients. Many of the Moscow elite had made a tradition of coming to the Alps for the orthodox new year, skiing with their families, then catching up with their financial consiglieri.

The Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) has downgraded its economic growth forecast for 2022 to 2.6% due to the war in Ukraine and uncertainties in China.

Sanctions imposed on Russia have focused debate over the country’s long-cherished economic haven status. In the gleaming new Chipperfield extension of the Zurich Kunsthaus, all polished limestone and gold, is a room dedicated to expiating the moral debits of economic neutrality. The Bührle collection is one of the greatest privately-amassed troves of modern European art, and the pride of the new building.

Switzerland’s typically liberal mergers and acquisitions market might make an exception for such a national institution.

The US tax authority IRS wants further information from the Swiss authorities on account data at 26 financial institutions. The IRS has made numerous requests for information in the past.

Geneva-based Trafigura reported record half-year profits as volatility and disruption in commodity markets, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, supercharged earnings for the world’s biggest traders.

Almost three-quarters (72%) of respondents to a Swiss survey are in favour of increasing the price of airline tickets for climate reasons.

Parliament has approved restrictions on online reservation platforms to protect the Swiss hotel sector.

Credit Suisse pushed for NSO Group to keep selling its Pegasus spyware to new customers just weeks after the US blacklisted the Israeli cyberweapon manufacturer, saying authoritarian regimes had used its hacking tool to silence dissent.

The Swiss are hosting a major international conference on reconstruction in Ukraine at the beginning of July. The agenda and a participants’ list are currently taking shape.  However, it’s unclear how much international enthusiasm this event – and its aims – will garner in the end.

The volume of sustainable investments in Switzerland increased by almost a third last year, reaching an all-time high of CHF1.98 trillion ($2 trillion). 

Swiss industrial firm Oerlikon has announced that it will hand over ownership of its business in Russia to local management. In a brief statement released on Thursday, the Oerlikon Group said it had entered into an agreement with the local management team to sell all its operations in Russia. “The business will continue to operate independently under the new owners,” said the company.

It’s easier to make lofty pledges about saving the world when the world isn’t battling multiple crises. The World Economic Forum’s programme last week included the word “crisis” 42 times. Throughout the four-day event, “crisis” was uttered on panels on climate change, in interviews on the war in Ukraine, and in conversations on food shortages held around lavish buffet tables.

The Ukrainian funds available to the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) for 2022 will not affect projects elsewhere, an official said on Thursday. Before the Russian invasion in February, the SDC had earmarked CHF25 million ($26 million) for development and cooperation projects in Ukraine; parliament has since boosted this by CHF61 million, SDC director Patricia Danzi said on Thursday.

The Swiss authorities have vetoed Denmark’s request to send Swiss-made armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine. The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) recently rejected Denmark’s bid to provide about  20 Piranha III infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine, Swiss public television, SRF, said on Wednesday.

Switzerland wants to update its 2014 free trade agreement with China, but Beijing refuses to talk, owing to criticism of its human rights record, report the NZZ am Sonntag and SonntagsBlick newspapers.

The overwhelming majority of products with packaging designed to appeal to children contain too much sugar, salt or fat, report Le Matin Dimanche and SonntagsZeitung newspapers.

Switzerland is considering emergency stockpiling of plastic packaging as the Ukraine war brings a world shortage of packaging material, reports the NZZ am Sonntag.

While the gap between rich and poor has been steadily widening in many countries, the situation in Switzerland has remained stable over the past decades, according to recent statistics. Yet while income distribution in the Alpine nation is relatively egalitarian, wealth is more concentrated in the hands of the rich.

Swiss and German ministers have agreed to negotiate a solidarity agreement to help each other with gas supply issues in an emergency. The announcement was made on the side lines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting taking place in Davos.

The global elite are gathering in the Alps this week for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting. Journalist Peter Goodman, author of Davos Man, argues that these billionaires are a “separate species” who have become so powerful that they’re writing the rules for the rest of us.

The effectiveness of sanctions against Russia have again been called into question as it emerged that an oligarch transferred his stake in a fertilizer company to his wife. The move has apparently thwarted European Union sanctions that Switzerland also enforces.

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is unacceptable, and wide-ranging international sanctions have rightly been imposed in response to it. The Swiss banks support these without reservation, and are implementing not only the sanctions ordered by the Swiss Federal Council, but also those of international and supranational authorities and bodies.

Switzerland has moved from third to second in an annual ranking of the worst global tax havens. Overall however, the country is going in the right direction, reports the Tax Justice Network.

A Paris appeals court has confirmed that the cement firm Lafarge must face charges of complicity in crimes against humanity over alleged payoffs to Islamic State group and other jihadist groups during Syria’s civil war. Lafarge is now part of the Swiss Holcim cement group, which says it will appeal the decision.

The Swiss government has outlined its plans to boost gas storage capacity in neighbouring countries to secure supplies ahead of winter. Gas makes up roughly 15% of Switzerland’s final energy consumption and is mostly used for heating and cooking. Around half of this comes from Russia.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will be among the leaders at the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, which starts on Sunday after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Defence Minister Viola Amherd has held talks with United States government representatives on international security cooperation.

The Swiss electronic duo Yello – Dieter Meier and Boris Blank – will receive the Grand Prix Music 2022, presented by the Federal Office of Culture and worth CHF100,000 ($100,400).

Swiss opinion over the expansion of the 5G telecommunications network is still split down the middle, according to the latest survey on the subject. The Swiss government is convinced that the new technology poses minimal health risks and is committed to the rapid erection of 7,500 5G antennae.  

Erik Fyrwald, the CEO of the Swiss agrochemicals group Syngenta, has called for an end to organic farming to avoid a worsening food crisis. The president of the Swiss Small Farmers’ Association meanwhile dismissed his arguments as “grotesque”.

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) continues to beat off demands to fight inflation by raising interest rates and to distribute more reserves to cantons and other causes.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has roots in a small, picturesque farming region in central Switzerland. Using genealogy websites and local archives, historians have been able to connect Musk with the Haldimann name, which is still present in the Emmental region today.

The number of reported suspicious financial transactions continued to rise in Switzerland in 2021, but at a lower rate than in the first year of the pandemic.

Consumers in Switzerland are much more pessimistic about the general economic situation, with households feeling the strain as prices continue to rise, a new survey shows.

There’s a well-worn Swiss bankers joke about the venality of a particular country. The actual country changes with the times but since this is April 2022, it starts like this: “Where is the capital of Russia?”

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is very opaque by international standards. That has to change, says Yvan Lengwiler, professor of economics at the University of Basel. He explains his proposals in the latest Geldcast update.

The Swiss software Kiwix enables the user to copy entire websites so they can be accessible offline. Now that Wikipedia risks sanction in Russia because of its content on the Ukraine war, downloads of the free online encyclopaedia using Kiwix are off the charts. 

The Swiss government has set up a working group to examine whether measures are needed to relieve the burden on households caused by rising energy prices.

Trade unions say middle- and lower-income workers in Switzerland are facing a “shock” in 2022, with wages unable to offset rising inflation and health insurance costs.

The traditional Easter march has taken place in the Swiss capital, Bern. This year the “Walk for Peace” focused on issues including the climate and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The contribution of Switzerland’s finance industry to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) has decreased over the past ten years.

Switzerland will decide case by case whether to curtail traders’ purchases from Russia’s state-controlled companies under European Union sanctions. The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) which is in charge sanctions confirmed the Swiss policy to follow in principle the EU measures, which aim to limit commodity deals to those deemed “strictly necessary” from mid-May.

The rapidly expanding Swiss blockchain industry is facing growing pains: a limited supply of qualified workers to fill the expanding number of job vacancies. Universities are stepping up to meet the challenge by designing new courses around blockchain and decentralised finance.

The Alpine nation consumed 2.4 million kilowatt hours (kWh) more electricity in 2021, equivalent to the annual consumption of 479,800 households. “In addition to the pandemic-related ‘compensatory effects’ in the second quarter, general economic development, the weather and population development increased consumption in 2021,” said the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) on Thursday.

New rules of the game have consequences be they sanctions, laws, court rulings or even public opinion. The stakes have never been as high for multinationals when it comes to doing the right thing.  

The government has decided to prepare a bail-out plan for Switzerland’s main electricity companies to prevent an energy shortage.

The Covid-19 pandemic has failed to rattle the Swiss property market. Prices for apartment buildings have hit a record high. But now the war in Ukraine and rising interest rates threaten to turn the tide.

Western companies should end their business relations with Russia. It is their moral duty to contribute to peace-making by their actions, says a group of business ethicists in Switzerland and Austria.

A Swiss court has sentenced former Raiffeisen bank chief Pierin Vincenz to almost four years in prison for fraud, forgery of documents and criminal mismanagement. Judges on Wednesday handed down a jail sentence of 43 months as well as a suspended fine of CHF840,000 ($899,858). Vincenz was also ordered to refund CHF236,000.

Switzerland has narrowly missed its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 despite coronavirus lockdowns and an unusually warm winter.

Switzerland has so far frozen some CHF7.5 billion ($8 billion) in funds and assets under sanctions against Russians to punish Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The organic food market in Switzerland experienced slower growth in 2021 than the previous year. However, consumers are spending more than ever on organic products.

Switzerland’s financial market supervisor FINMA says the Russian invasion of Ukraine isn’t a wide-scale threat to Swiss financial firms’ business ties to Russia.

Switzerland can cope with a large number of Ukrainian refugees, and their skills can benefit the economy, says migration expert Thomas Kessler. “The Ukrainian women will provide new impetus in this country,” he told the SonntagsBlick newspaper. “Especially in the IT sector, the Ukrainians are more advanced than Switzerland. In addition, it is normal in Ukraine for women to study natural sciences.”

The number of companies and individuals declaring bankruptcy rose 9.1% last year, which coincided with a gradual withdrawal of state-backed financial support during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Thousands of Ukrainian refugees are finding that Swiss banks are refusing to convert the cash they brought with them into francs.

Switzerland has signed a declaration along with six other European states in favour of pooling gas storage facilities.

Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands signed the declarationExternal link on Wednesday, pledging to work towards coordinating storage efforts on a regional level.

The Swiss government on Friday adopted additional sanctions against Russia for its ongoing war in Ukraine but did not ban the Russian state TV channels Sputnik and Russia Today like the European Union.

A new poll shows that a majority of the Swiss population would be in favour of tougher sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine, even if it results in higher energy costs in Switzerland.

Diaspora TV Switzerland launched a new service in Ukrainian on Sunday to help meet the information needs of refugees arriving from the war-torn country.

An advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says the Swiss should be more proactive in looking for Russian funds. But according to a legal expert, current regulations do not allow authorities or banks to do more active searches beyond what’s in their current registers.

Credit Suisse announced on Monday that Vice-Chair Severin Schwan would not stand for re-election. This follows a reported rebellion by large shareholder groups at the Swiss bank. “Severin Schwan, who joined the Board in 2014 and has acted as Vice-Chair and Lead Independent Director since 2017, has decided not to stand for re-election,” Credit Suisse said in a statementExternal link on Monday.

Switzerland plans to open negotiations with Qatar over the potential delivery of liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies. The Alpine state is scouting for new energy suppliers, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine and consequent threat of energy insecurity is forcing many countries to reconsider their existing policies. The ripple effect has also reached Switzerland, which is already reassessing its gas supply for the coming winter. 

The United States wants to cut its dependence on Russian fuels. But Switzerland and Europe cannot completely do without Russian gas, says René Bautz, the CEO of Gaznat, which supplies high-pressure gas to western Switzerland, and president of the Global Gas Centre platform for the natural gas sector.

Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, the Swiss ambassador to NATO, Philippe Brandt, explains the importance of Switzerland’s partnership with the alliance, which he views as perfectly compatible with Swiss neutrality.

German-born Stefanie Hessler, 35, will head the Swiss art space starting in May. Her appointment is part of several rearrangements in institutions run by the pharma billionaire Maja Hoffmann.

Big consumer brands are leaving Russia in droves but for many Swiss companies untangling ties isn’t that easy.  Jessica covers the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to big global companies and their impact in Switzerland and abroad. She’s always looking for a Swiss connection with her native San Francisco and will happily discuss why her hometown has produced some of the greatest innovations but can’t seem to solve its housing crisis.

The Swiss economics ministry has downgraded its growth forecast for 2022 due to the war in Ukraine. But it still predicts a solid post-pandemic upswing.

Swiss banks hold between CHF150 billion and CHF200 billion ($160-$214 billion) in assets belonging to Russian clients, according to the Swiss Bankers Association.

Renouncing Russian oil and gas would have serious consequences for the Swiss economy, an expert from the KOF Swiss Economic Institute has told a Sunday newspaper.

The Swiss government has boosted its humanitarian support to victims of the war in Ukraine. On Friday it approved CHF80 million ($86 million) as an “expression of its solidarity with Ukrainians in need”.

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has led to an exodus of well-known western brands from Russia, but not every company has joined the rush.

The Swiss Post Office more than doubled profits to CHF457 million ($493 million) last year as it was less affected by pandemic restrictions.

Russia has drawn up a list of around 50 countries, including Switzerland, that have committed “unfriendly actions” against Russia, its companies and citizens, in the wake of severe economic sanctions over the war in Ukraine, the Russian state media agency TASS reports.

The Swiss parliament has decided to ease restrictions on genetic engineering in agriculture, while extending in principle a moratorium for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) until 2025.

The US, UK and EU have adopted sanctions aimed at freezing the assets of President Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, in response to the war in Ukraine.

Around 35 tonnes of emergency aid, including medical equipment and tents, sent from Switzerland to help victims of the war in Ukraine have arrived in the capital, Kyiv.

Switzerland and the European Union have a complicated relationship. The recent decision by the Alpine nation to definitively shut the door on a framework agreement with the EU reaffirms its attachment to its independence. It shows that 30 years after refusing to join the EU, Switzerland’s stance has only been reinforced. We look at some of the main reasons why.

NFTs have hit the headlines with spectacular sakes of digital artworks, such as the wildly popular CryptoPunks. Keystone / Obs/4artechnologies

The latest blockchain phenomenon, the non-fungible token (NFT), has generated vast profits for artists and a raft of fraudulent scams. Several Swiss NFT projects have set out to prove that the technology can have a lasting impact beyond the spectacular headlines.
This content was published on March 5, 2022 – 09:00
March 5, 2022 – 09:00

Matthew Allen

When not covering fintech, cryptocurrencies, blockchain, banks and trade, swissinfo.ch’s business correspondent can be found playing cricket on various grounds in Switzerland – including the frozen lake of St Moritz. 
More from this author
| English Department

swissinfo.ch

Luxury watch

Companies will no longer have to prove there are no Swiss job candidates in some sectors. Moves to cut red tape for non-EU foreign workers in Switzerland will not necessarily lead to more work visas being issued.
On Friday, the government announced measuresExternal link to make it easier to hire skilled workers from such countries as India, Britain, China and the United States.By making it simpler to award B and L work permits, Switzerland hopes that the “innovative power of the economy can be strengthened.”Companies are usually obliged to prove that there are no Swiss people who could fill a position before it is offered to a candidate

More than a million Ukrainians have fled their country since the Russian invasion.
Switzerland said it is activating sanctions against Russia on Friday, including a ban on many industrial exports and wide-ranging restrictions on financial activities, which includes cutting Russian banks from the SWIFT financial messaging system.

Legal expert Mark Pieth is amazed that Switzerland is taking its own problematic approach to international sanctions against Russia. When Russia invaded Ukraine, the US and the EU announced economic sanctions, whereas Switzerland announced that it would first have to analyse the new situation. The obvious question there is what has the Swiss Government been doing for the past few weeks, as tensions have been rising?

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland has demanded Credit Suisse be fined CHF5 million ($5.4 million) – the maximum provided for by law – for aggravated money laundering and subsidiary support of a criminal organisation.

Switzerland is facing calls to clean up its financial sector in the wake of the so-called “Suisse Secrets” controversy, which drew on leaked data from banking giant Credit Suisse. Many see the scandal as evidence of systemic shortcoming in the Swiss banking sector, which has undergone major reforms over recent years in a bid to shake off its image as a financial haven for criminals.

Other airlines in the Lufthansa Group also announced plans to halt flights to the country. © Keystone / Christian Beutler

Amid further escalations of the crisis in Ukraine, Swiss International Airlines has decided to temporarily suspend flights to Ukraine from next week. This affects flight connections in Kyiv.
This content was published on February 19, 2022 – 17:22
February 19, 2022 – 17:22

Keystone-SDA/jdp

All flights will be cancelled from Monday, February 21 until February 28, 2022, a SWISS spokesperson told the Keystone-SDA news agency on Saturday in response to a request. Flights on Sunday, February 20, would take place as planned to provide booked passengers a travel option between Kyiv and Zurich.“The safety of passengers and crew members is the top priority at all times,”

Glencore expects to resolve bribery and corruption investigations in the UK, US and Brazil this year and has set aside $1.5 billion (CHF1.4 billion) to cover potential fines and costs.

Many people dream of owning a mountain home, especially in Switzerland, where the Alps are within easy reach of major towns and cities. But few come on the market and, when they do, they can be quite expensive.

Swiss exports climbed to record levels in 2021, with chemicals and pharma driving much of the growth. Watches, especially luxury ones, also had a good year.

After working in finance in Geneva for 15 years, Olivier Santi emigrated to Dakar in 2017 to head a new bank founded by one of Senegal’s richest businessmen. His career to date demonstrates both the central role Switzerland plays in the finance and raw materials sectors, and the vitality of West Africa’s banking sector.

Despite the demise of many antiquarian bookshops in Switzerland, the trade is alive and well in the Alpine country. Dealers in Geneva, Basel and Zurich give a glimpse into this exclusive business, where a gentleman’s code still rules.

The proportion of women in leading positions at major European companies rose slightly last year but progress is slow, according to a new study that compares 19 countries. Switzerland was ranked near the bottom of the 2021 “Gender Diversity Index”.

The state-owned Swiss Post processed a record number of parcels last year, but the downward letter mail continued. Parcel deliveries increased by 9.6% to 202 million in 2021, according to the state-owned company.“

Entrepreneur Thomas Baillod has just launched a “Swiss Made” tourbillon watch for under CHF5,000 ($5,450), a marketing coup which shows that mid-range watches still have a place in a watch industry increasingly focused on ultra-luxury.

The number of new electric cars sold in Switzerland continues to accelerate – even faster than predicted, according to the Touring Club Switzerland (TCS) car association.

Administrators clearing up a CHF800 million ($877 million) collapsed pyramid scheme have managed to recover just CHF12.7 million from one of Switzerland’s largest fraud cases.

Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer has hinted that cantons might lower income taxes for well-heeled executives as the country braces for the impact of a minimum corporate tax rate.

In 2021, global carbon pollution returned almost to 2019 levels, after a drop during the lockdowns of the pandemic year 2020. Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved

The production and trade of goods is at the heart of the globalised market and has a significant environmental impact. Yet there was little discussion at COP26 on how to make it more sustainable, the former director of the World Trade Institute (WTI) tells SWI swissinfo.ch.
This content was published on January 14, 2022 – 09:00
January 14, 2022 – 09:00

Sara Ibrahim

Writes about the impact of new technologies on society: are we aware of the revolution in progress and its consequences? Hobby: free thinking. Habit: asking too many questions.
More from this author
| Italian Department

The goods we

The Swiss government has pledged to implement from 2024 the minimum tax rate for large multinational companies under a global tax deal.

As businesses were gearing up for the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow last year, one of Europe’s larger banks released an update on how it planned to do its bit to combat global warming.

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) expects to post a profit of CHF26 billion ($28 billion) for 2021, a windfall made exclusively from its growing foreign currency holdings.

The majority of stranded Swiss people repatriated during the first pandemic wave have paid back their share of flight bills. But the foreign ministry has been forced to write off CHF210,000 ($230,000) and is still haggling over another CHF360,000.

The latest cantonal ruling on the US ride-hailing firm comes as a national framework to determine the status of gig economy workers in Switzerland is still lacking.

Shared e-scooters and e-bikes can have a negative effect on the climate, a Swiss study has found. This is because such services generally replace trips with normal bicycles, rather than cars.

The value of residential property in Switzerland continued to rise strongly in 2021 in the wake of Covid-19. Property prices are likely to rise further this year, according to an analysis.

Consumer prices in Switzerland increased by 0.6% on average last year, according to the Federal Statistics Office. and +0.4% respectively.The consumer price index fell by 0.1% in December

The Covid pandemic has hit Zurich Airport, one of the biggest employers in the region, hard. But CEO Stephan Widrig says there are sufficient financial resources to get through the crisis, including the Omicron variant.

The annual census of the Swiss watch industry labour force found that partial unemployment helped the industry weather the pandemic over the last year. The number of employees in the industry remained stable in 2021 while the share of high skilled staff increased.

Shortages of raw materials and logistics bottlenecks have made 2021 a tough year for Swiss manufacturers, and contributed to a downgrade in the government’s GDP growth forecast for the economy next year. 

The Credit Suisse bank has fired the managers overseeing a multi-billion-dollar fund strategy linked to the now-defunct Greensill Capital.

Every other month, the world’s most influential central bank governors gather in Basel to swap notes, reinforce personal ties and untangle the technical details of keeping money flowing around the world.

The Russian businessman extradited from Switzerland to the United States and four other Russians have been charged with carrying out a $82-million (CHF75 million) insider trading scheme using data stolen during hacks of US computer networks.

The Covid-19 pandemic has severely disrupted plans to hold the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) main annual meeting in Davos for a second year in a row.

Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS, says it will once again appeal a fine handed out by a French court for tax evasion offences.

Credit Suisse has hired the former chief executive of Australian finance group AMP to run its revamped wealth management division, as the Swiss lender tries to win market share from its domestic rival UBS.

A Swiss court has found the Zurich-based Falcon Private Bank guilty of money-laundering offences. The Federal Criminal CourtExternal link on Wednesday ordered the Abu Dhabi-owned bankExternal link to pay a fine of CHF3.5 million ($3.8 million) for failing to set up the necessary controls. It was the first time that a Swiss bank was taken to court over accusations of money laundering.

Parliament has approved a major reform of the Swiss pension system, including a controversial rise in the retirement age for women. The overhaul also foresees financial compensation – staggered over nine years for women directly affected by the change – as well as an increase in value-added tax.

The Swiss National Bank has decided to stick to its expansionary monetary policy, a day after the US Federal Reserve announced it was tightening monetary policies amid rising inflation.

The Swiss pavilion at the ongoing Universal Exposition in Dubai leads the visitor through Alpine landscapes in a show of light and shadows to showcase Swiss sustainability, urbanisation and innovation. It is a concept that seems to appeal to the public, despite the pandemic and the many contradictions that characterise the Gulf region.

Authorities, environmental groups, and energy providers have named 15 major hydropower projects that could help Switzerland achieve energy security and a green transition over the coming decades. The projects were chosen for their energy efficiency potential as well as their minimal impact on biodiversity and the landscape, the groups wrote in a joint declaration on Monday. It was the third time that the “round-table” had met since August 2020.

A major global corporate tax deal agreed by more than 130 countries in October aims to curb tax abuse by multinational companies, but many important details remain on how this will be implemented.

Every year from October to December more than 1.5 million tonnes of sugar beets grown in Switzerland are harvested to supply the country’s sugar industry – an industry being kept alive by massive government subsidies. SWI swissinfo.ch reports from Aarberg, home to the country’s largest sugar factory.  

New data on Swiss travel habits during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic show fewer overnight stays, less air travel and a collapse in trips beyond the borders of Europe.

Swiss economic experts expect a significant economic slowdown as supply chain bottlenecks, inflation and pandemic restrictions persist in many parts of the world.

Switzerland’s largest trade union issued a statement on Saturday demanding a “massive reduction” of working hours with full wage compensation for lower and income earners.

Cyber-attacks are on the rise in Switzerland with 94 ransomware incidents reported in the first half of the year, according to the Sunday weekly Le Matin Dimanche.

Last year foreign workers in Switzerland loved the quality of life but moaned about how hard it is to settle in. Have they since cracked how to befriend the allegedly surly Swiss? The Expat City Ranking 2021 lists both praise and peeves of newcomers.

Research by investigative non-profit Public Eye has revealed that trading companies with a Swiss presence – or their subsidiaries – own over 550 plantations covering over 2.7 million hectares.

The European Commission has ended an investigation of five banks, including UBS and Credit Suisse, who colluded in a foreign exchange spot trading cartel.

They say a week is a long time in politics – last week we discovered it’s a long time in a pandemic as well. We started the week anxiously watching the rising Covid cases in Europe, and wondering what new restrictions might be heading our way for Christmas.

The launch of Swiss Post’s first “crypto” stamp has met with such high demand that the online shop was overwhelmed for several hours.

The average private household in Switzerland spent about 31% of its income on taxes, social security and health insurance premiums in 2019.

In a little over a year Play Suisse, the streaming service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), has become a major player in the Swiss digital landscape, surpassing platforms like Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video. Critic Max Borg looks at the strengths and weaknesses of Play Suisse and its rivals.

The Australian central bank is being attacked by the markets and is losing control over interest rates. Something similar happened to the Swiss National Bank in 2015 with the minimum exchange rate for the euro. But what is behind this?

During the pandemic, some skiers have been doing just that. But does the romantic vision tally with the reality? It was in May, while hiking along the forest trails and waterfalls of La Tièche, with views towards the snow-dusted peaks of the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc, that fitness coach Jessica Z Christensen decided to spend more time in the Swiss mountains.

Swiss architects were swept up in the movement to build bubble houses out of concrete and plastic in the 1960s. While the bubble movement burst decades ago, many of the original structures are still standing to this day.

Driven by strong Chinese demand, Swiss watchmaking is recovering after suffering one of its biggest economic shocks in 2020. But the crisis has further widened the gap between the few brands that take the lion’s share of the profits and the rest of the industry.

The government seeks to renew its policy to support assistance measures by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It asked parliament to approve plans to continue international monetary cooperation to the tune of CHF10 billion ($10.8 billion) by 2028.The existing legal basis expires in April 2023, according to officials.

Women make up half of the highly skilled workforce in Switzerland, but work fewer hours, according to a study published on Tuesday. One in three would like to work more, under certain conditions.

Companies come to Switzerland for tax reasons all the time. Should that be illegal? Jessica covers the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to big global companies and their impact in Switzerland and abroad.

The Swiss federal authorities can proceed with awarding a cloud computing contract to five US and Chinese companies, including Amazon, Microsoft and Alibaba, after Google dropped an appeal against the decision to leave it out of the project.

The holes were caused by tunneling work under the tracks carried out by a private company, which was working on a thermal energy project using water from Lake Geneva to heat an industrial zone not far from the train line. Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott

The main rail link between Geneva and Lausanne in southwestern Switzerland will not re-open until Friday morning, Swiss Federal Railways (SBB/CFF) has confirmed. The line has been suspended since Tuesday after land collapsed near the tracks.
This content was published on November 11, 2021 – 09:57
November 11, 2021 – 09:57

Keystone-SDA/sb

Holes that appeared between tracks at Tolochenaz, near Morges in canton Vaud, on Tuesday still require major work, which is proving more complicated than expected, the Federal Railways said.Two holes

The Swiss-based multinational has already set aside $187.5 million (CHF 171 million) to settle legal cases filed by farmers exposed to paraquat. But the total bill could run into billions as lawsuits pile up.

The widespread dioxin pollution uncovered in Lausanne has surprised many and raised concerns about the health consequences, clean-up costs and extent of the problem. The small Alpine nation may be well known for its stunning natural beauty, but thousands of sites contaminated with various other pollutants still need remediation.

Just a short hop from the Swiss border, the walled city of Besançon is a showcase of centuries of French watchmaking knowhow. Within its labyrinth of pristine streets are many secret courtyards, where, behind imposing doors, independent watchmakers carry forward its best-known traditions in what is considered France’s capital of watches.

Households and businesses across Europe are facing a huge rise in electricity and heating costs this winter. Price hikes in Switzerland have so far been comparatively cushioned, but there are warnings of a potential energy crunch in the next few years.

For years, central banks have been called upon to do more to combat climate change. Now a new monetary policy instrument is being discussed as a way forward.

The Credit Suisse Group says it will shrink its investment bank and shift more resources to the wealth management unit.

Switzerland has enough money and technology to drastically reduce emissions and become a leader in international climate negotiations. But it needs to be more ambitious, says Ludwig Luz, president of the Swiss Youth for Climate group. 

Four out of five firms surveyed by the Swiss Business Federation (economiesuisse) have complained of problems in getting hold of raw materials and essential parts for their goods.

A Mozambique public finance watchdog is demanding an estimated $2 billion (CHF1.8 billion) in full debt relief from Credit Suisse, that is ten times more than what Swiss banking giant is willing to write off.

Containers are piling up at ports, ships are waiting to offload cargo and store shelves are sitting empty. Are all the quick fixes enough to fix the real problems in our supply chains?

Some government departments and 13 other Swiss entities have signed a pact to increase energy efficiency, expand renewable energies and make their investments “climate compatible”.

The Swiss government has shared its vision for coping with major power outages in a brochure shared with thousands of companies, the weekly NZZ am Sonntag reported on Sunday. In the absence of an electricity agreement with the European Union, such a scenario is likely if large power plants fail in Switzerland or abroad.

Unlike other Western European nations, Switzerland is not at risk of a supply chain crisis due to a lack of truck drivers, according to the president of a major logistics and transport company.

Swiss private banks managed to increase their assets under management to CHF2.9 trillion ($3.15 trillion) last year, an increase of 2.8% on 2019.

If progress is not made on an electricity agreement with the European Union, at least at a technical level, Switzerland is likely to face a significant problem guaranteeing electricity in the short and medium term, especially in winter.

Quintet Private Bank says it is closing its Swiss arm just 16 months after opening. The Qatari-owned private bank took over Bank am Bellevue last year.

While most Swiss hotels and restaurants are critical of the need to show a Covid certificate, overall small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) do not perceive it as a disadvantage.

A Geneva-based foundation has created a tool mapping out major scientific breakthroughs that could help decision makers and civil society prepare for their impact.

Most Swiss residents would be in favour of a 30 kilometre (18 miles) per hour speed limit in urban areas, a survey has found.

It’s an economist’s conundrum: global capital, instead of flowing from rich countries to poor countries, actually moves in the other direction. Each year hundreds of billions of dollars leave developing countries and land in the coffers of rich countries like Switzerland.

The three-day Fantasy Basel festival for fans of films, games, comics, cosplay and manga has re-opened its doors after a two-year break.

Ransomware attacks by hackers continue to increase sharply, with some 2,700 Swiss firms falling victim over the past year, Beobachter magazine has reported.

A special public prosecutor has been named in connection with the Crypto spying affair involving manipulated encryption devices which the CIA and the German intelligence agency used to spy on half the world.

Switzerland is still number one in terms of wealth management internationally, despite the growth in new assets slowing in 2020, according to consulting firm Deloitte.

For the third year running, the Geneva International Motor Show will not take place in 2022 due to ongoing health concerns as well as supply shortages in the automotive sector.

A cross-party group has handed in signatures opposing a support package for the media passed by parliament in June.

Covid, the weather and the pig market were kind to farmers in 2020, with income increasing 6.7% compared with 2019. But this year is looking much bleaker.

Swiss police have raided the offices of Credit Suisse and seized documents relating to the collapse of its $10bn fund range linked to Greensill Capital.

A new set of leaked documents, dubbed the Pandora Papers, has again exposed the role of Swiss lawyers, accountants and consultants in managing the wealth of powerful clients.

After eight years of planning and billions of dollars in spending, the Middle East’s first World Fair has opened in Dubai. Switzerland is participating at Expo 2020 with its own pavilion.

Six people and a Swiss financial services firm have been charged in the United States with helping clients evade taxes on $60 million (CHF56 million) of assets.

Swiss bank UBS will have to wait until December 13 to see if its appeal against a French €4.5 billion (CHF4.9 billion) tax evasion penalty is successful.

Guy Parmelin, who holds the rotating Swiss presidency this year, has called for solidarity to tackle global environmental and trade issues.

The Swiss parliament has agreed new advertising and sponsorship regulations for tobacco products. However, the supporters of a total ban on tobacco advertising are unimpressed.

Campaigners seeking a ban on Swiss arms exports have withdrawn their initiative that aimed to stop weapons exports to countries in conflict.

Electric car manufacturers and other green energy companies are trying to get a grip on their mineral supply chains. In doing so, they are bringing commodity traders out from the shadows.

The global community is slipping in its efforts to tackle money laundering and terrorist finance, a Swiss corruption watchdog warned on Monday.

The risk of a housing bubble has increased in the last three months, but the Swiss National Bank (SNB) is unconcerned about a general inflationary threat.

A federal investigator has found “serious” technical failures at voluntary vaccination registry mesvaccins.ch, which was closed in May following data security concerns.

A new Swiss stock exchange has been awarded a license to trade digital assets using distributed ledger technology (DLT).

The Swiss company Climeworks has just opened in Iceland the world’s largest plant for the capture and permanent storage of carbon dioxide from the air. This technology is deemed essential for combating global warming, yet it raises some questions.

The Trade Union Federation has called for a blanket salary rise for all employees as the Swiss economy recovers from the Covid-19 crisis.

From 2024, large Swiss firms will be legally bound to report on their climate-related risks. The government has now published guidelines on which companies and which risks will be involved.

In a bid to grab a bigger slice of the chocolate pie, cocoa-producing countries Ivory Coast and Ghana are turning to China for funding and a new marketplace. The move could pose a threat to the Swiss chocolate industry’s profit margins and its supply of raw materials. 

Health Minister Alain Berset has urged companies to back the government’s Covid-19 vaccination campaign, arguing it is in the economy’s interest to get as many people vaccinated as possible.

A report by the leading Swiss bank UBS has found an increased risk of a real estate bubble forming in Switzerland’s housing market. The UBS Swiss real estate bubble index has risen from 1.78 to 1.90 points, in the second quarter of 2021, remaining in the ‘risk zone’, according to a report published on Tuesday.

We take a deep dive into what one country – Switzerland – is doing to honour the United Nations principles on business respects human rights.

The bank will face a trial over its role in Mozambique’s $2 billion (CHF1.8 billion) “tuna bonds” scandal, a fresh blow as it struggles to shake off a succession of crises that have plagued the group in recent years.

A majority (70%) of Swiss believe it’s important to avoid emissions in their everyday lives, although fewer are likely to back up their views with action, according to a survey.

Numbers engaging in outdoor activities like walking, cycling or mountain biking continued to rise in Switzerland in 2019, the Federal Office for Roads (ASTRA) has reported. This is also good news for the economy.

“How can we [ . . .] fight increased inequality?” railed Ralph Hamers in a recent interview. To be clear, Hamers is not the boss of Unicef, or Oxfam or the Social Mobility Foundation. He is chief executive of Swiss bank UBS, one of the biggest beneficiaries of the widening wealth gap.

The Swiss bank and its former top manager Iqbal Khan have agreed to end all pending criminal proceedings in a 2019 spying affair that toppled the company’s top brass. Speaking to the Reuters news agency, a spokesperson for Credit Suisse confirmed a report in the newspaper NZZ am Sonntag that, following an agreement between “all parties”, the matter was now closed.

The president of the national marketing body Switzerland Tourism says the year 2021 is on course to be even worse than 2020, with 5% fewer hotel stays expected. “This is not good news, because 2020 was the worst year in history” for the sector, Martin Nydegger told the newspaper SonntagsZeitung.

Google has appealed a recent Swiss decision to award a cloud-computing contract to five other digital firms. The tender process has also come under criticism by defenders of data sovereignty.

The short spring and wet summer means Swiss bees have produced ten times less honey than usual. As a result the price of honey is set to increase. After last year’s exceptional harvest, 2021 is looking very meagre: while a hive normally produces 15-20 kilos of honey, the current figure is 0-3 kilos, Swiss public radio, RTS, reported on Thursday.

Farmers in Ivory Coast – the world’s largest cocoa-producing nation – are getting less for their cocoa despite the introduction of a payment that aims to secure them a living wage.  

Lakes and rivers in central Swiss cantons such as Bern and Lucerne have reached dangerous levels, and more rain is forecast for Thursday and Friday. On Wednesday authorities in canton Bern said water levels on Lake Thun, Lake Biel and in the city of Bern would significantly exceed flood limits in the coming days.

Fans of Pablo Picasso will soon be able to own a share in one of his paintings for less than $6,000 (CHF5,500) – although that won’t actually buy them the right to see the work, which will be stored under lock and key in Switzerland.

Canton Bern expects water levels on Lake Thun, Lake Biel and in the city of Bern to significantly exceed flood limits in the coming days. On Lake Biel it’s possible the situation will be similar to the flood of the century in 2005.

Sub-Saharan Africa is a key region for Swiss foreign policyExternal link and digitisation will play a major role in that strategy. To this end, “Crypto Nation” Switzerland is throwing its weight behind a public-private partnership to find blockchain solutions to some of the challenges facing the continent.

The number of Swiss start-ups launched has risen significantly in the first six months of 2021 while the number of companies filing for bankruptcy has decreased, studies have shown. In the first half of 2021 over 26,000 new companies were added to Switzerland’s commercial register, an increase of over 20% compared to the year before, a new report by Dun & Bradstreet has found.

Health concerns over toxic metals in remote communities near a mining complex in the Peruvian Andes are gaining ground after the publication of several reports. Glencore which owns the mine, points at natural mineralisation of the environment.

The interests of small innovative countries must be taken into account in international corporate tax measures, says Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer, who has been attending the G20 meeting in Italy. Tax was a key issue at the two-day meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the group of 20 major economies, which wrapped up on Saturday.

Climate change is causing extreme weather, also in Switzerland. A climate taskforce – like the Covid 19 science task force – makes sense, a leading Swiss climate scientist says.

An organisation set up in Switzerland to prevent sport from harming society and athletes has been granted full association status in Geneva. The Centre for Sport and Human RightsExternal link was awarded the status of an independent non-profit association under Swiss law on Thursday. It has been running since 2018 under a different legal status.

Switzerland has again failed to meet its goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, prompting a rise in CO2 taxes. Last year emissions from fuel, including heating oil and gas, were 31% lower than 1990 levels, according to data released by the Federal OfficeExternal link for the Environment on Wednesday. This is unchanged from 2019 and falls short of the required 33%.

Single-use plastic items like straws and cups are no longer allowed in the 27 European Union countries. This isn’t the case in non-member Switzerland, where retailers and restaurants are taking their own approach. The EU ban on certain plastic products took effect on July 3 and covers a range of everyday items from food packaging to wet wipes.

Climate change is forcing financiers to change the way they think and act. This could have a big impact on their balance sheets – and potentially their very survival. “Bankers are no longer purely financial specialists, but also connoisseurs of the environmental and social footprint of investments,” said Yves Mirabaud in his last speech as president of the Association of Swiss Private Banks in June.

The Swiss government wants to upgrade the country’s air defence system by buying 36 F-35A fighter aircraft from United States manufacturer Lockheed Martin and five Patriot surface-to-air missile units from another US firm Raytheon.

The operators of Germany’s main stock exchange have paid more than CHF100 million ($108 million) for a majority stake in Swiss cryptocurrency service provider Crypto Finance. The move reflects a growing trend of traditional financial institutions gearing themselves up for an anticipated growth in the trade of digital financial assets.

While the Covid-19 pandemic has caused existential hardship for many employees, CEOs and shareholders have “shamelessly helped themselves”, according to a union study. “The pay gap remains wide open at a very high level,” trade union Unia wrote in its annual pay gap studyExternal link published on Tuesday.

Swiss banks have some catching up to do when it comes to structural change and digitalisation, says Ralph Hamers, CEO of Swiss bank UBS. In his opinion structural change has taken place much faster in other countries and industries than in Switzerland.

Ahead of the Swiss government’s decision on a major fighter jet contract, Airbus has made an appeal to the Swiss government to choose a European firm after leaked information from the government revealed US firm Lockheed Martin was out ahead of competitors.

The risk to bees through pesticides and the ensuing effects on the world’s food crops have been the source of much debate. But do Swiss measures to support the domestic honeybee disadvantage the equally important wild bee?

After rejecting the framework agreement with the European Union last month, Switzerland must now choose the model for interacting with the bloc’s internal market, says the EU ambassador to Switzerland. In an interviewExternal link with Le Temps newspaper on Friday, Petros Mavromichalis warned that the status quo was not an option for the EU.

The creation of a global repository in Switzerland to store, analyse and quickly share viruses and pathogens among laboratories around the world will better prepare us for the next pandemic, says a biologist working at the future BioHub site.

The number of cross-border workers plying their trade in Switzerland has more than doubled since the mid-1990s. The rising trend continues, increasing by over 4% between 2019 and 2020. At the end of 2020, some 343,000 cross-border workers were employed in Switzerland, up from 329,000 in December 2019, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) said on Thursday.

The use of debit cards continues to increase but cash remains the most popular payment method in Switzerland. A survey by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) found that 97% of respondents keep cash in their wallets or at home to cover day-to-day expenses, while 92% own a debit card and 78% hold a credit card, according to a press release External linkon Wednesday.

The Swiss consumed almost 11% less energy last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic and warmer weather, according to the Federal Office of Energy. In total, Swiss residents used up 747,400 terajoules (TJ) of energy in 2020 – a fall of 10.6% compared to 2019 – the office said in a statementExternal link on Monday.

The proposed 15% minimum corporate tax rate is an opportunity for Switzerland to unite its tax code for the better, says an organization representing Swiss cities. City finance directors have criticized cantons for trying to plug expected tax gaps unilaterally, rather than find a common approach nationwide.

Switzerland’s economy will be back to its pre-pandemic level as early as this year and does not need a stimulus package, says Sabine D’Amelio-Favez, director of the Federal Finance Administration. The Confederation has incurred debts of CHF30 billion ($33 billion) to stem the economic consequences of Covid-19, she said in an interview published on Saturday by newspapers of the CH Media group.

Credit Suisse’s disastrous Greensill and Archegos investments have highlighted the destructive side of banking. Regulators and politicians are asking what the Swiss bank did wrong and what can be done to protect investors from future risk-assessment failures.

This year Switzerland will provide more than CHF12 million ($13 million) in humanitarian aid to Venezuela and the region, it said at the Donors’ Conference in Solidarity with Venezuelan Refugees and Migrants.

Swiss banks have been able to strengthen their capital bases despite deteriorating economic conditions during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Swiss National Bank (SNB). This applies to the two big banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, and also domestic banks.

Switzerland is lagging behind most European countries when it comes to solar and wind power. In terms of per capita production, it ranks second to last in comparison with surrounding countries, according to the Swiss Energy Foundation (SES).

Swiss banks might not be the most obvious allies for indigenous communities struggling to survive in Russia’s Far North. But their financial clout could drive multinationals to change their business practices, argue those affected by a major environmental disaster last year.

Swiss President Guy Parmelin has underlined the importance of bilateral relations after a “cordial” meeting with US President Joe Biden. Parmelin also called Wednesday’s US-Russia meeting a “sign of hope”. Biden arrived in Geneva on Tuesday afternoon, ahead of the summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Swiss International Air Lines will make fewer pandemic-related job cuts than feared following consultations with staff and trade unions. On Tuesday, SWISS said the number of intended layoffs has been reduced to 550 from the 780 announced last month. Of the 550 affected jobs, 58 employees have accepted a downgrade from their current positions so that they will remain with the company.

Voters decide Sunday on two separate initiatives aiming to ban or reduce the use of synthetic pesticides in the country. Polls suggest the proposals are on the back foot. Is Switzerland about to become an organic farming pioneer?

As a naughty young child bitcoin was viewed as too vacuous and devoid of prospects to warrant serious attention. At the grand old age of 22, the cryptocurrency is poised to be given a seat at the high table by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

They break up, they get back together, and then they break up again. The rift between Bern and Brussels over the framework agreement is causing frustration among Swiss researchers who depend on EU funding for their work. Universities, companies and start-ups fear that science and research will become “collateral damage” of a negotiation gone wrong.

Swiss-based multinationals such as commodities trader Glencore will receive subsidies and other incentives under plans Switzerland is drawing up to maintain its competitive tax rates, even as the country prepares to sign-up to the G7’s new plan for a global minimum tax on big businesses.

The world has witnessed the first rise in child labour in 20 years and the coronavirus crisis threatens to push millions more minors into the same fate, the United Nations said on Thursday. Swiss multinationals from food giant Nestlé to mining titans Glencore and Trafigura have struggled to eradicate child labour from their supply chains and the communities where they work.

The decision by the leading industrial nations (G7) to support a global minimum tax of 15% for large corporations is not good news for Switzerland, according to Swiss economists. Certain cantons in particular would come under pressure.

The Federal Electricity Commission (ElCom) has again voiced concern about Switzerland’s ability to secure sufficient power supplies in the coming years. While there is no immediate danger of shortfalls in the Alpine state, the electricity watchdog said on Thursday that more should be done to ensure domestic energy security in the mid to long term.

Business and human rights experts argue that Switzerland should seize the opportunity to require responsible sourcing of cobalt, an in-demand mineral whose risks to human rights are often overlooked. The government is holding consultations on a new law to hold companies accountable for the adverse impact of their operations on people after the Responsible Business Initiative failed at the ballot box last year.

Goods that are normally trucked on busy Swiss roads are a step closer to travelling underground on driverless vehicles after an ambitious cargo project got a first legislative go-ahead. The Cargo sous terrain (CST) project sounds like science fiction: a 500-kilometre network of tunnels to transport freight between Switzerland’s busiest cities.

The Swiss aviation sector, which includes Swiss International Air Lines and Zurich Airport, has pledged to slash CO2 emissions and make flying net zero by 2050.

In late 2014, David Solo lent A$12.2 million (CHF8.5 million) to a little-known supply-chain finance group with eye-catching claims. Greensill Capital, which was trying to muscle in on a corner of finance dominated for decades by banks, vowed to make “finance fairer” and declared that it would be “democratising capital”.

The Swiss Federal Audit Office says it is worried by a surge in fraud cases linked to the short-time working system, a key pillar of the country’s economic response to Covid-19. The office’s director Michel Huissoud told public radio SRF on Monday he was “shocked by the number of complaints, mistakes, and abuses” recorded to date.

Death threats, insults, posters vandalised or set on fire: the campaign for two initiatives against pesticides to be put to the vote on June 13 is extremely tense. This toxic climate highlights a deep malaise in the Swiss agricultural world.

In Brussels there was shock and anger. In Switzerland, quiet celebration and relief — but, for some, doubts about what exactly comes next. On Wednesday, Bern announced it was formally withdrawing from negotiations to codify future relations with the EU into a single overarching “framework agreement” — a back-and-forth exchange that has dominated an increasingly fraught relationship with Brussels since 2014.

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) can expand its balance sheet further if needed, says chairman of the board Thomas Jordan.

Switzerland and the World Health Organization (WHO) have agreed to launch the first WHO BioHub Facility. This will enhance the rapid sharing of viruses and other pathogens between laboratories and partners globally.

Swiss people’s trust in their country’s banks is at its highest in 20 years, boosted by Covid credits and a commitment to sustainability, according to a new survey. People from almost all political camps have a positive perception, with 75% describing their attitude towards Swiss banks as positive or very positive, found the survey conducted by gfs.bern for the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA).

In the latest version of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, eight Swiss or Swiss-resident names figure among the 500 richest people in the world. The richest of the Alpine-based billionaires is Geneva-based Ernesto Bertarelli, who according to his own self-description is a “Swiss entrepreneur active in the fields of business, finance, sport and philanthropy”.

Switzerland used to be a place where the rich came with their money to escape the world’s problems, not to confront them. These days, the private banks that dot the pristine streets of Zurich and Geneva are no exception when it comes to the wave of enthusiasm that has broken over the asset management world for better environmental, social and governance standards.

Switzerland’s largest insurance company Swiss Life has agreed to pay CHF70 million ($77.4 million) and enter a deferred prosecution agreement in the United States to resolve accusations it conspired to help wealthy Americans to avoid taxes.