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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Switzerland is wrangling over implementation of tougher tobacco laws

2021-03-20

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2021-03-20

The Swiss parliament is currently debating tightening restrictions on advertising of tobacco products. This comes after a people’s initiative calls for a radical advertising ban to protect children.

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Credit Suisse Claws Back Bonuses, ‘Restructures’ Asset-Management Unit As Greensill Scapegoating Continues

2021-03-19

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2021-03-19

Credit Suisse is still reeling from the collapse of Greensill Capital, a firm which it championed by helping to sell its financial products (created by ensconcing trade invoices in a complex securities wrapper).

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How the Swiss central bank could control the cost of pandemic debt

2021-03-18

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2021-03-18

The cost of paying off spiralling national debt in the United States and Switzerland is rising as interest rates increase. This makes the financing of pandemic expenditure more expensive. That's not a problem in Japan where the central bank is holding interest rates in check. Would the Japanese recipe also be something for Switzerland?

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Bitcoin Suisse bank license bid hits regulatory roadblock

2021-03-18

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2021-03-18

Cryptocurrency firm Bitcoin Suisse has withdrawn its application for a banking license, in part because it failed to meet the anti-money laundering requirements of the Swiss financial regulator.

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How vaccine passports may make Swiss e-ID rejection obsolete

2021-03-17

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2021-03-17

UN economist Ian Richards argues that Swiss voters' fears of a proposal for an e-ID may be swept away as more countries see the benefits of digitising documents, including vaccine passports.

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A nightclub in an isolated Swiss town

2021-03-17

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Before Juliane and Nici opened Cult, young people in the eastern Swiss town of Scuol had to drive for miles – even across the border into Austria – for a bit of fun.

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Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report: Online sales reached record highs in 2020, doubling in value

2021-03-16

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2021-03-16

Art Basel and UBS announced today the publication of the fifth Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report, authored by renowned cultural economist Dr Clare McAndrew. The report integrates insight from a recent survey of 2,569 high-net-worth (HNW) collectors, conducted by Arts Economics and UBS Investor Watch, across ten markets: the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Mexico, and for the first time...

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Hack on US security-camera company sparks Swiss police raid

2021-03-15

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2021-03-15

Swiss authorities on Monday confirmed a police raid at the home of a Swiss hacker who took credit for helping to break into a US security-camera company’s online networks, part of what the hacker cited as an effort to raise awareness about the dangers of mass surveillance.

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Flu deaths surprisingly rare in Switzerland

2021-03-15

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2021-03-15

Sometimes comparisons are drawn between the seasonal flu and Covid-19. But how many die from the seasonal flu in a typical year? According to Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office, surprisingly few.

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Farming lobby hurting Swiss chocolate sector, says industry association

2021-03-14

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2021-03-14

Swiss chocolate sales went into steep decline in 2020, according to ChocoSuisse, Switzerland’s chocolate industry association. The amount of chocolate produced in Switzerland in 2020 was 10% lower than in 2019 and sales revenue was down by 14.5%, a sharp drop.

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Regulators want firms to own up to climate risks

2021-03-14

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2021-03-14

Greener postures
AMERICA’S MAIN financial regulator is taking an interest in climate change—and wants everyone to know. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has created a task-force to examine environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, appointed a climate tsar and said it will “enhance its focus” on climate-related disclosures for listed firms.

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Swiss Voters Approve ‘Burqa Ban’

2021-03-13

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2021-03-13

Swiss voters have narrowly approved a proposal to ban face coverings in public spaces. The measure comes just over a decade after citizens voted to ban the construction of minarets, the tower-like structures on mosques that are often used to call Muslims to prayer.

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More parcels, fewer letters: pandemic dents Swiss Post finances

2021-03-12

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2021-03-12

The Covid-19 pandemic cost the state-owned Swiss postal service CHF139 million ($150 million) last year, which was largely responsible for driving down profits by 30%. Swiss Post delivered a record 182.7 million parcels in 2020, up nearly a quarter in volume from the previous year.

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More rare earth metals detected at Swiss wastewater plants

2021-03-12

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2021-03-12

Rare earth metals like cerium and gadolinium, which are used in industry and hospitals, are increasingly being detected at Swiss wastewater plants, new research shows.

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Swiss government expects fast economic recovery in 2021

2021-03-11

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2021-03-11

After a weak start to the year, Switzerland’s economy should recover rapidly from a heavy coronavirus-driven slump to grow by 3% in 2021, the government said on Thursday. Gross domestic product will fall “significantly” in the first quarter of this year, after Covid-19 restrictions last December, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) said in a statement.

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Credit Suisse Launches Probe Into Collapsed Greensill Trade-Finance Funds

2021-03-11

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2021-03-11

Roughly a weekand a-half has passed since Credit Suisse gated funds containing $10BN in assets packaged by Greensill, the troubled financial innovator that suckered in former British PM David Cameron, SoftBank and legions of clients and investors with its stated mission to "democratize" supply-chain finance.

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No more free rides in free trade deals

2021-03-10

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2021-03-10

The Swiss narrowly voted in favour of a free trade deal with Indonesia on Sunday. Will future agreements also have to win popular support? Jessica covers the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to big global companies and their impact in Switzerland and abroad.

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Most adults in rich nations face long wait for vaccine, distributor warns

2021-03-09

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2021-03-09

More than half of adults in rich countries will still be waiting to receive a first dose of coronavirus vaccine in 15 months’ time, the head of a logistics group distributing jabs has warned. Detlef Trefzger, chief executive of Kuehne+Nagel, one of the world’s largest haulage companies, said: “This already is fast. This sounds shocking for some people, but we have to be realistic.”

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Swiss government wants to keep control of weapons exports

2021-03-07

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2021-03-07

The Swiss government has rejected calls to allow voters and cantons to set conditions for weapons exports. A people’s initiative collected enough signatures in 2019 to force a nationwide vote on the issue.

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Swiss parliament demands cabinet reopen restaurants and theatres

2021-03-06

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2021-03-06

A recent parliamentary vote on whether to issue a formal request to the Federal Council, Switzerland’s executive, to reopen restaurants on 22 March 2021, found a majority of 97 to 90, according to Le Matin.

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