Category Archive: 3.) Investec

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Close to a fifth of Swiss workers think corruption widespread, says survey

2017-04-21

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2017-04-21

Mudretsov Oleksandr
A survey conducted by the advisory firm EY shows a rise in perceived corruption in the workplace in Switzerland. 18% of workers surveyed by the firm in Switzerland now think bribery and corruption are widespread in the country. While high this figure is well below the 33% average for Western Europe and the 51% average across all of the 41 countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India that the survey covered.

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Swiss federal tribunal refuses to help French tax authorities

2017-04-15

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2017-04-15

The French tax authorities will not get Swiss help to investigate tax payers identified in data taken by Hervé Falciani from HSBC private bank in Geneva. HSBC, owner of the private bank in Geneva, which became part of HSBC in 1999 when it was acquired from Republic National Bank, a group run by Lebanese-born financier Edmond Safra, described the data taken from the bank in 2008, as stolen, reported the BBC.

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Swiss chef wins world’s best restaurant award

2017-04-12

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2017-04-12

A Swiss chef from Aargau came first in this year’s ranking of the world’s 50 best restaurants. Daniel Humm, co-owner of the restaurant Eleven Madison Park, comes from Strengelbach in Switzerland, and earned his first Michelin star at 24. In 2003, he moved to the United States to become a chef at Campton Place in San Francisco. Three years later, he moved to New York to Eleven Madison Park.

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Paris says no to sand from Swiss company that bid for Trump wall

2017-04-07

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2017-04-07

The French-Swiss group, described as “disreputable” by the Ville de Paris, will not be supplying sand to the city of Paris this summer. Paris Plages (Beaches), a project that creates temporary beaches of sand along the banks of the river Seine every summer, said it would take no more sand from LafargeHolcim because of its willingness get involved in Donald Trumps’s disastrous Mexican wall project.

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The real reason Swiss drugs are so expensive

2017-03-24

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2017-03-24

Expensive-Swiss-drugs
In Switzerland, a 16-pack of 500mg Dafalgan Odis (Paracetamol) costs CHF 8.60. A comparable French product, Doliprane, costs 1.12 euros for a box of 12 tablets the same size. 12 tablets of 500 mg of Algifor (Ibuprofen) costs CHF 9.90 compared to 2.50 euros for a similar box of Advil in France.

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Swiss Post to start delivering with drones this summer

2017-03-18

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2017-03-18

Swiss Drone
Swiss post has said it will deliver the first packages by air this summer. The first deliveries will be made between two medical laboratories on the southern side of the Alps. Test flights were conducted in the canton of Bern last year. Now Swiss Post is ready to make commercial deliveries starting in Lugano.

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The Swiss Franc Hits its Lowest Since December

2017-03-17

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2017-03-17

Swiss-franc
According to some experts, the weaker franc can be partly explained by the market activities of the Swiss National Bank (SNB). The cantonal bank of Thurgau said that the SNB appeared to be targeting a weaker franc ahead of the Dutch elections on Wednesday. Adding that they think an exchange rate of around 1.085 against the euro is possible.

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Vaud Discusses Extending Winter School Holiday to 2 Weeks

2017-03-15

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2017-03-15

Villars Daniel-Barton
In Switzerland, this ski season has been disappointing, particularly if you have school aged children. During the Vaud school holiday this season, the fourth week of February, there was limited snow. Even at high resorts like Verbier, snow conditions were fairly average across the week. The week before there was good snow. But then everyone was still at school. A two-week school holiday in February would increase the chances of striking good snow.

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Low strength cannabis sales explode across Switzerland

2017-03-10

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2017-03-10

According to an article in Tribune de Genève, some cigarette vendors are desperately searching for supplies of the drug to meet demand. Recently kiosques in Geneva started selling low strength cannabis like they sell cigarettes. Some kiosque owners are over the moon, while others desperately search for a supplier.

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Swiss score highest number of patents per capita. Again.

2017-03-09

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2017-03-09

According to the European Patents Office (EPO), once again Switzerland topped the per capita patents ranking in 2016, with 892 applications per million inhabitants. Second and third places went to the Netherlands (405) and Sweden (360), followed by Denmark (334) and Finland (331). The first non-European country was Japan in ninth place (166), well above the EU average of 122.

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Switzerland ranked best country despite relatively low GDP per capita

2017-03-08

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2017-03-08

Swiss-train
In a new ranking by US News, Switzerland is described as a nation with cultural contributions disproportionate to its small size. Swiss citizens have won more Nobel Prizes and registered more patents per capita than any other nation.

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Switzerland ranked world’s worst currency manipulator

2017-03-07

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2017-03-07

Currency Manipulation
The Economist magazine placed Switzerland first in a recent ranking of currency manipulators. According to the analysis, China, commonly thought of as the world’s champion at keeping its currency’s value artificially low, appears to be doing the opposite: actively trying to push the value of its currency up. On the other hand, Switzerland that has been working hardest to artificially devalue its money.

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Sender must now pay Swiss Post for customs checks

2017-03-05

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2017-03-05

Currently, anyone ordering something from outside Switzerland, must pay Swiss Post an administrative charge if their package attracts import tax (duty and/or VAT). In addition, they must pay Swiss Post an additional CHF 13 if the parcel needs to be opened, usually because the package has been poorly labelled.

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Government stops tax rises on Swiss cigarettes

2017-03-05

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2017-03-05

Smoking-addiction
Swiss cigarette prices will not rise over the coming years unless manufacturers increase the underlying price. On Tuesday, Switzerland’s Council of States (upper house), withheld permission to allow the Federal Council (cabinet) to continue hiking the tax on smokes.

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Swiss government drops plan to restrict lobbyists’ access to parliament

2017-03-04

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2017-03-04

One year after Switzerland’s Council of States (upper house) voted in favour of controlling lobbyists’ access to parliament, the draft proposed implementation plan has been rejected by the commission in charge of it.

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46 percent of Swiss industrial companies considering relocating operations abroad

2017-03-03

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2017-03-03

After a very difficult year in 2015, the Swiss mechanical and electrical engineering industries (MEM) started to recover in 2016, with new orders rising by 9.5%. At the same time 23% of the industry made a loss on the back of high costs and a 1.8% drop in sales, says the industry association Swiss MEM.

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Uncertainty and concern follow voter rejection of Switzerland’s company tax reform

2017-02-17

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2017-02-17

Swiss-tax-reform
Speaking to Tribune de Genève, Serge Dal Busco, Geneva’s minister of finance, voiced his concerns about last Sunday’s rejection of Switzerland’s planned company tax reform. At the same time he remains optimistic about the chances of a new federal corporate tax reform project.

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Swiss unemployment rises. French-speaking cantons worst affected.

2017-02-16

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2017-02-16

Unemployment-Switzerland
The unemployment rate across Switzerland climbed by 0.2% to 3.7% in January, and regional differences were clear. Across French and Italian-speaking cantons the rate averaged 5%, while across the German-speaking cantons it was 3.1%.

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Swiss Might Drop Daylight Savings

2017-02-12

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2017-02-12

Daylight Saving World Subdivisions
Switzerland could drop daylight savings. Currently, Switzerland’s Federal Council sees no reason to abandon it, however if Switzerland’s neighbours did it would follow, mainly for economic reasons said the Federal council. National councilor Yvette Estermann (UDC/SVP), who is fiercely opposed to daylight saving, took the opportunity to point out the negative health consequences of changing the time every six months.

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Swiss fact: 96 percent of Swiss workers earn 3,000 francs or more a month

2017-02-03

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2017-02-03

© Syda Productions | Dreamstime.com
A report published by the Swiss Federal Office of statistics, shows that only 4.3% of full-time workers earn less than CHF 3,000 per month. The monthly figure is net of social security deductions, but includes one twelfth of the 13th bonus month typically paid in Switzerland.

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