Category Archive: 3) Swiss Markets and News

Main Author Investec
Investec
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.

Why the Chairman of Investec’s Global Investment Strategy Group is a China bull

Despite a general dim view of China’s growth, the Chairman of Investec’s Global Investment Strategy Group believes that the Chinese economic miracle is far from over. In an interview at the recent #InvestecWealth Forum, John Haynes, Chairman of the Global Investment Strategy group, Investec Wealth & Investment, UK, said “I would only worry about the …

Read More »

Why the best time to buy resources is when people don’t like them

Gold and uranium are favourite commodities of 2016’s Top Performing Global Equity Manager. Unfashionable resources, in particular gold and uranium, are favourite commodities of Dave Iben, Chief Investment Officer of Kopernik Global Investors USA. At the recent #InvestecWealth Forum, Iben, one of 18 exceptional fund managers in Investec’s World Axis Fund, spoke about why “commodities …

Read More »

The top three risks on the global investment horizon in 2018

Transition risk, rising inflation and populism top the agenda of Investec’s Global Investment Strategy Group. The Global Investment Strategy Group brings together the finest investment minds at Investec Wealth & Investment across the different geographies, to set the overarching positioning and investment strategy for the investment portfolios of clients. In this video interview at the …

Read More »

EU tax grey list splits Federal Council

It’s “hardly a tragedy” that the European Union has placed Switzerland on a grey list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes, says Finance Minister Ueli Maurer. Economics Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann, on the other hand, says he is “irritated” by the move.

Read More »

Large email hack reported – Swiss agency tool lets you check if your account was compromised

It’s the question lurking in many people’s minds, especially during the frenzy of online Christmas shopping: has my email account been hacked? MELANI has got your back – up to a point. The Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance (MELANI), is part of the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service.

Read More »

General Electric to cut 1,400 Swiss jobs

General Electric (GE) has announced plans to cut around a third of its workforce based in northern Switzerland as the American multinational responds to a sharp fall in demand for fossil fuel power equipment. GE aims to cut up to 1,400 jobs over the next two years at its GE Power unit in the northern Swiss canton of Aargau, where it employs 4,200 people unit focusing on gas and steam turbine production, but said no locations would close. The unit...

Read More »

Switzerland’s “harmful tax regime” gets it on EU grey list

This week EU Finance ministers came out with a list of countries it thinks don’t measure up to its definition of good tax behaviour. There are two categories: blacklist and so-called “grey list”. Black is bad and grey is heading toward good, but not yet there. Switzerland is on the “grey list”.

Read More »

Airbnb charges some customers more than others, particularly the Swiss

Many Swiss residents travel to neighbouring eurozone countries for their holidays. These countries are close and Swiss francs go far there. However, to get the most out of a strong currency you need a good exchange rate. If a Swiss resident presenting euro cash at a checkout in Germany or France was told they couldn’t pay in euros because they live in Switzerland – “I’m sorry sir but you live in Switzerland, you must pay in Swiss francs at our...

Read More »

YouTubers come in all shapes and sizes

Tama Vakeesan was born in Switzerland to Tamil parents from Sri Lanka. This week, she attends the Zug film festival, “Zuger Filmtage”, to accept an award for her Vlog. The festival provides a competition platform for YouTubers of all ages who have something fresh to offer. Tama meets some of the competitors. (SRF Kulturplatz/swissinfo.ch) — swissinfo.ch is …

Read More »

“Gnomes Of Zurich” In Panic As Saudi Corruption Crackdown Sparks Flood Of Money Laundering Inquiries

There are two divergent views on the crackdown on corruption by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), which led to the arrest and detention of 200 princes, ministers and former ministers. On one hand, it was a masterstroke which will earn political capital with the Saudi people and catalyse an Arab Spring in which MBS is a modernizing reformer who will liberalise Islam.

Read More »

Börsen-Talk vom 8. Dezember 2017

Die Börsenhausse wird 2018 mit etwas verhaltenerem Wachstum weiter gehen, sagt Marc Brütsch im Börsen-Talk. In jedem Fall aber erwartet der Chefökonom der Swiss Life ein stärkeres Wachstum der Schweizer Wirtschaft.

Read More »

Making fun of migration stereotypes

Tama Vakeesan was born in Switzerland to Tamil parents from Sri Lanka. This week she interviews Arman and Sascha from Austria, who have made a feature film (“Die Migrantigen”), poking fun at migration stereotypes. Omar, a former criminal, and his friends live in the fictional town of Rudolfsgrund. They all eat kebabs and they’re all broke, …

Read More »

Where there’s a will, there’s a way

Tama Vakeesan was born in Switzerland to Tamil parents from Sri Lanka. This week she talks to Ola, who’s 20, and fled the war in Aleppo, Syria, with her family a year ago. Since then, Ola has not only learnt German by taking free classes and practicing with friends, she has also set up and run … Continue reading »

Read More »

SWISS expands Zurich flights, fears airport restrictions

Switzerland’s national airline has enjoyed a profitable year and expects continued success, but its chief executive says restrictions at Zurich Airport are making it difficult to meet passenger demand. Thomas Klühr, the head of the Lufthansa-Group-owned Swiss National Airlines SWISS, told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper that developments such as the bankruptcy of German carrier Air Berlin have led to increased demand for certain European routes.

Read More »

Frustrated Investors File Lawsuits Against World’s Largest ICO

ere's the latest sign that the massively fraudulent ICO market is headed for a collapse. Tezos’s investors are still waiting to learn when they can expect to receive the digital tokens that they paid a premium for during the company’s record-setting crowdsale. But as reports of abuse, internal strife and outright embezzlement have surfaced in the press, three groups of angry investors have filed class action lawsuits accusing the company of fraud...

Read More »

Study shows Swiss soils are suffering

A first nationwide report on the health of Swiss soils has shown that virtually all are polluted and that the resource is not being put to sustainable use. The report, published Thursday by the Federal Office for the Environment in collaboration with the offices for agriculture and spatial development, brings together information about soil health that until now has been gathered in isolation through separate cantonal or regional research projects.

Read More »

UBS launches world’s first performance-based healthcare investment

The Zurich-based UBS Optimus Foundation has announced the launch of the first Development Impact Bond (DIB) in the field of healthcare. If successful, it could save over 10,000 lives in India. The foundation, which is the philanthropic arm of the Swiss bank UBS, will invest a total of $3.5 million (CHF3.45 million) to help reduce mother and infant mortality rates in the state of Rajasthan in northwestern India.

Read More »

Beer sales slowly dry up in Switzerland

Swiss beer fans can enjoy an increasingly diverse selection(Keystone/Angelika Warmuth) The amount of beer consumed in Switzerland declined last year, as it did for wine. Yet the number of specialist craft microbreweries continues to rise. Between October 2016 and September 2017, the Swiss drank 461 million litres of beer (54.5 litres per person) – down 0.2% on the previous reporting period, according to the Swiss Breweries...

Read More »

Swiss village offering to pay people to live there inundated with applications

After the Swiss mountain village of Albinen hatched a plan to pay parents (CHF 25,000 each) and children (CHF 10,000 each) to move there, it has been inundated with applicants. Articles about the offer have been published by Time, The Sunday Times, The Sun, El Pais, and many other publications. Rather than celebrating, the picturesque town’s administration is unhappy. It published a statement on its website accusing the media of false reports that...

Read More »

Darwin Airline planes grounded

Switzerland’s Darwin Airline, the Lugano-based regional carrier, was forced to halt all its flights on Tuesday after its licence was revoked by the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) over financial problems.

Read More »