Category Archive: 3) Swiss Markets and News

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Investec is a distinctive Specialist Bank and Asset Manager. We provide a diverse range of financial products and services to a niche client base in three principal markets, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Australia, as well as certain other geographies. Investec’s strategic goals are motivated by the desire to develop an efficient and integrated business on an international scale through the active pursuit of clearly established core competencies in the group’s principal business areas.
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Ranking: Swiss public sector shows corruption and lobbying vulnerability

2023-01-31

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2023-01-31

Switzerland ranked seventh for a second year in a row in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, but its overall score marks a historic low for the country. Nepotism and opaque political lobbying stand out among the Swiss public sector’s trouble spots, according to the international NGO’s Swiss chapter.

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Swiss businesses prepare for escalation with China

2023-01-30

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2023-01-30

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...

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Covid: 140 million masks set to expire this year

2023-01-30

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2023-01-30

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.

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Why Western companies still can’t quit Russia

2023-01-29

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2023-01-29

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?

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Swiss start-up funding quadruples within five years

2023-01-28

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2023-01-28

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.

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Swiss government aims to cut 2 billion from 2024 budget

2023-01-27

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2023-01-27

Like many governments across the world, Switzerland’s federal government is spending more than it collects. Extraordinary spending on Covid and refugees has pushed Switzerland’s finances into the red, a situation Karin Keller-Sutter, the current finance minister, hopes to eliminate by 2024.

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China favours Switzerland as a tourist destination

2023-01-27

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2023-01-27

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.

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Surfing the American wave: Swiss watch exports reach new heights

2023-01-27

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2023-01-27

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.

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Swiss president remains tight-lipped on ‘Covid leaks’

2023-01-27

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2023-01-27

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.

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Retirement at 68.2 to cover Swiss pension shortfall, says UBS

2023-01-26

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2023-01-26

Swiss resident’s are regularly reminded of the large financial gap is Switzerland’s state pension system. Despite this, several attempts at reform have failed to gain sufficient support. Those that have still leave a large shortfall. On 24 January 2023, UBS published four additional reform scenarios. Only the fourth, with a life expectancy adjusted retirement age of 68.2 years eliminates the current projected shortfall.

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Company takeovers and mergers on the rise in Switzerland

2023-01-26

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2023-01-26

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.

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Swiss medicine sales to Russia hit 30-year high

2023-01-25

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2023-01-25

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.

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Why can’t the Swiss National Bank go bankrupt?

2023-01-24

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2023-01-24

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?

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China-Switzerland flights struggle to resume after three years

2023-01-23

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2023-01-23

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.

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Electricity prices could rise more in 2024, suggests head of Swiss regulator

2023-01-21

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2023-01-21

At a meeting in Bern on 19 January 2023, Werner Luginbühl, the head of Elcom, Switzerland’s electricity regulator, called on the sector to be careful to manage consumer expectations, reported RTS.

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Three Swiss firms ranked among top 100 family businesses

2023-01-20

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2023-01-20

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.

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Crypto crash fails to deliver death blow to Swiss ambitions

2023-01-19

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2023-01-19

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.

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WEF: Oxfam urges windfall tax on food companies

2023-01-17

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2023-01-17

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.

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UBS eyes US and China expansion

2023-01-16

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2023-01-16

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.

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Switzerland and US sign deal on pharmaceutical supply chain

2023-01-15

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2023-01-15

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.

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