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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Afghan women face an uncertain future

2021-08-27

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One of the big questions since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan is what will become of Afghan women. When the militant group last ruled the country, women and girls were barred from schools, universities and jobs, and had to veil from head to toe in public. The Swiss-based non-profit group Geneva Call has been active in Afghanistan for several years, trying to improve the protection of women in particular. Marie Lequin, Head of the Eurasia...

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Covid vaccinations in schools

2021-08-24

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Aargau is the first Swiss canton to offer mobile vaccination centres for older pupils on school grounds. The aim is to boost the vaccination rate among 16- to 19-year-olds in the canton, which currently stands at 43%, as well as to stem the number of coronavirus outbreaks in schools. More than 200 pupils tested positive for the virus in the first week of term. Schools in the northern canton were the first to go back after the summer holidays on...

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Sharp jump in Swiss Covid-19 intensive care patients

2021-08-20

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2021-08-20

The latest figures on Covid-19 patients in intensive care in Swiss hospitals show a steep rise in numbers.

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Big Swiss companies obliged to report on climate risks from 2024

2021-08-19

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2021-08-19

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.

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Deepfake hunters

2021-08-17

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Deepfakes are often used in ads and films, for instance when actors play younger versions of their characters. However, the technology also offers high potential for misuse. A spin-off of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne is using AI and deep learning to create software to help specialists detect fraud. Artificial intelligence helps detect anomalies inside images. The software then marks any manipulated areas. Detectors are also...

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Can China help African cocoa producers outmanoeuvre Big Chocolate?

2021-08-17

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2021-08-17

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. 

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Businesses urged to back Swiss Covid-19 vaccination strategy

2021-08-16

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2021-08-16

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.

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Covid: second vaccine approved for use on 12 to 17 year olds in Switzerland

2021-08-13

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2021-08-13

Swissmedic, Switzerland’s drug approval agency, extended approval of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine for use on 12 to 17 year olds this week.

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Risk of housing bubble in Switzerland persists

2021-08-11

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2021-08-11

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.

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Chocolate, gold, human rights: what’s the Swiss Connection?

2021-08-10

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2021-08-10

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

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Unvaccinated 80 times more likely to catch Covid-19, finds Swiss study

2021-08-08

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2021-08-08

Recent analysis of data done in the Swiss canton of Vaud found rate of Covid-19 was 83 times higher among the unvaccinated than those who had received two shots of vaccine, reported RTS.

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Zurich airport: 5 percent to 10 percent of passengers not boarding due to Covid document issues

2021-08-07

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2021-08-07

During July 2021, around 5% to 10% of long-haul passengers, many in transit, were unable to depart from Zurich airport because their Covid-19 documents did not comply with destination country regulations, reported the newspaper Le Temps.

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Swiss heirs must repay 15 years of illegally claimed welfare

2021-08-06

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2021-08-06

In 2016, the social security office in Zurich discovered a concealed bank account containing CHF 1 million belonging to a deceased man who had received welfare payments for 13 years, reported RTS.

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Credit Suisse to face ‘tuna bonds’ trial

2021-08-05

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2021-08-05

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.

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Swiss think it’s vital that other people reduce CO2 emissions

2021-08-04

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2021-08-04

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.

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Rising numbers of hikers and bikers boost Swiss economy

2021-08-03

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2021-08-03

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.

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Why some wealth managers hate wealth

2021-08-02

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2021-08-02

“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.

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The grand old man of Swiss alpinism

2021-07-27

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Meet Marcel, father of the legendary Swiss climbers Claude and Yves Remy. Marcel may be 98 years old, but he’s still climbing. You can see him in action here at the climbing centre in Villeneuve on the eastern shores of Lake Geneva. Marcel Remy spent all his free time in the mountains, taking his two sons with him. Claude and his brother Yves inherited Marcel’s determination and resilience. The Lausanne-born hard-rock lovers opened and outfitted...

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Credit Suisse reaches deal with former employee in spying case

2021-07-27

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2021-07-27

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.

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Tourism sector will take decades to recover from pandemic

2021-07-26

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2021-07-26

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.

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