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.
My articlesMy siteAbout meMy books
Follow on:LinkedINTwitterAmazon
Filter archive by: Show All Show only Articles Show only Videos

Big Swiss companies obliged to report on climate risks from 2024

2021-08-19

by

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.

Read More »

Deepfake hunters

2021-08-17

by

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...

Read More »

Can China help African cocoa producers outmanoeuvre Big Chocolate?

2021-08-17

by

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. 

Read More »

Businesses urged to back Swiss Covid-19 vaccination strategy

2021-08-16

by

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.

Read More »

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

2021-08-13

by

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.

Read More »

Risk of housing bubble in Switzerland persists

2021-08-11

by

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.

Read More »

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

2021-08-10

by

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.

Read More »

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

2021-08-08

by

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.

Read More »

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

2021-08-07

by

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.

Read More »

Swiss heirs must repay 15 years of illegally claimed welfare

2021-08-06

by

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.

Read More »

Credit Suisse to face ‘tuna bonds’ trial

2021-08-05

by

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.

Read More »

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

2021-08-04

by

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.

Read More »

Rising numbers of hikers and bikers boost Swiss economy

2021-08-03

by

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.

Read More »

Why some wealth managers hate wealth

2021-08-02

by

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.

Read More »

The grand old man of Swiss alpinism

2021-07-27

by

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...

Read More »

Credit Suisse reaches deal with former employee in spying case

2021-07-27

by

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.

Read More »

Tourism sector will take decades to recover from pandemic

2021-07-26

by

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.

Read More »

Swiss flood damage could cost half a billion francs

2021-07-25

by

2021-07-25

Switzerland’s four largest buildings insurers estimate the costs of recent weather events could reach half a billion francs across Switzerland, reported RTS. According to Grégoire Deiss, who works for the cantonal buildings insurer ECAB in Fribourg, the cost of recent storms and flooding could be around CHF 500 million across all of Switzerland, a figure he based on claims that have been made so far.

Read More »

Vote to increase Swiss retirement age clears signature hurdle

2021-07-24

by

2021-07-24

The youth chapter of the PLR (FDP) has successfully collected enough signatures for an initiative to raise the official retirement age in Switzerland to 66 years old, reported RTS. On 16 July 2021, initiative organisers submitted 145,000 voter signatures as part of the formal process of launching a referendum in Switzerland.

Read More »

Google challenges Swiss data cloud contract decision

2021-07-23

by

2021-07-23

Google has appealed a recent Swiss decision to award a cloud-computing contract to five other digital firms. The tender process has also come under criticism by defenders of data sovereignty.

Read More »