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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Swiss woman’s grandchildren held in Syrian camp

2021-06-01

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This is the story of a Swiss woman who desperately wants her grandchildren to be brought back from a Kurdish-controlled camp in Syria, even if it means taking them from their mother. Switzerland refuses to repatriate adult detainees from Syrian camps, a policy that effectively leaves seven Swiss children stranded in the war-torn country. Many detainees in the camps are suspected of having links to the Islamic State terror group, in northeastern...

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How Swiss Asset Managers Opened their Doors to Lex Greensill

2021-06-01

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2021-06-01

In late 2014, David Solo lent A$12.2 million (CHF8.5 million) to a little-known supply-chain finance group with eye-catching claims. Greensill Capital, which was trying to muscle in on a corner of finance dominated for decades by banks, vowed to make “finance fairer” and declared that it would be “democratising capital”.

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Dishonest Partial Unemployment Claims Alarm Swiss Auditors

2021-05-31

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2021-05-31

The Swiss Federal Audit Office says it is worried by a surge in fraud cases linked to the short-time working system, a key pillar of the country’s economic response to Covid-19. The office’s director Michel Huissoud told public radio SRF on Monday he was “shocked by the number of complaints, mistakes, and abuses” recorded to date.

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Swiss Campaign Heats up ahead of an Emotional Vote on Pesticides

2021-05-30

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2021-05-30

Death threats, insults, posters vandalised or set on fire: the campaign for two initiatives against pesticides to be put to the vote on June 13 is extremely tense. This toxic climate highlights a deep malaise in the Swiss agricultural world.

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Covid: new cases down 28% in Switzerland this week

2021-05-30

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2021-05-30

This week, 5,670 new Covid-19 cases were recorded in Switzerland, down 28% from the week before (7,843), continuing the downward trend of new numbers of recorded infections. The daily number of cases on a 7-day rolling average has more than halved (-58%) in 4 weeks falling from 1,924 to 810.

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Swiss prepare for EU chill after quitting market access talks

2021-05-29

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2021-05-29

In Brussels there was shock and anger. In Switzerland, quiet celebration and relief — but, for some, doubts about what exactly comes next. On Wednesday, Bern announced it was formally withdrawing from negotiations to codify future relations with the EU into a single overarching “framework agreement” — a back-and-forth exchange that has dominated an increasingly fraught relationship with Brussels since 2014.

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Covid: UK now on Swiss risk list

2021-05-28

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2021-05-28

On 27 May 2021, the UK was added Switzerland’s list of risk countries. This means that anyone arriving in Switzerland from the UK from 6pm on Thursday must quarantine upon arrival, with a few exceptions. The UK was added to the Federal Office of Public Health’s (FOPH) list of countries with a worrying variant, alongside Brazil, Canada, India, Nepal and South Africa.

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Protest over academic collaboration with China

2021-05-25

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The Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) is one of three European institutions cooperating with a university in China with ties to the military. Not all ZHdK staff and students agree with the move. A petition has been organised by Verso, the ZHdK student organisation, which is calling for cooperation with the Chinese Harbin Institute of Technology to cease immediately. It has been signed by 531 students and members of staff. But a Swiss-China...

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Switzerland and WHO launch global pathogen BioHub

2021-05-25

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2021-05-25

Switzerland and the World Health Organization (WHO) have agreed to launch the first WHO BioHub Facility. This will enhance the rapid sharing of viruses and other pathogens between laboratories and partners globally.

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“Everything Is On Fire”

2021-05-20

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2021-05-20

Authored by Egon von Greyerz via GoldSwitzerland.com,“Everything is on fire” – Heraclitus (535-475 BC)What Heraclitus meant was that the world is in a constant state of flux.But the big problem in the next few years is that the world will experience a fire of a magnitude never seen before in history.I have in many articles and interviews pointed out how predictable events are (and people).

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UBS International Pension Gap Index: Swiss pensions – an international comparison

2021-05-20

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2021-05-20

Pension schemes are as diverse as the cultures of the countries whose working population they insure. Nevertheless, they all aim to guarantee a certain level of income in retirement. The UBS International Pension Gap Index, first released in 2017, analyses the sustainability and adequacy of the pension promises across 24 jurisdictions.

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Public trust in Swiss banks soars amid pandemic 

2021-05-20

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2021-05-20

Swiss people’s trust in their country’s banks is at its highest in 20 years, boosted by Covid credits and a commitment to sustainability, according to a new survey. People from almost all political camps have a positive perception, with 75% describing their attitude towards Swiss banks as positive or very positive, found the survey conducted by gfs.bern for the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA).

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Eight Swiss in Bloomberg billionaire ‘rich list’ 

2021-05-19

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2021-05-19

In the latest version of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, eight Swiss or Swiss-resident names figure among the 500 richest people in the world. The richest of the Alpine-based billionaires is Geneva-based Ernesto Bertarelli, who according to his own self-description is a “Swiss entrepreneur active in the fields of business, finance, sport and philanthropy”.

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Only vaccinated to get Covid certificates before end June in Switzerland

2021-05-18

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2021-05-18

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Initially, in Switzerland, only those who have been vaccinated will get a Covid certificate. Those who have received a negative test result or have been infected and recovered will have to wait, according to a report in the TagesAnzeiger. This information was later confirmed by the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), according to RTS.

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Napoleon Bonaparte’s impact on Switzerland

2021-05-17

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To mark the 200th anniversary of Napoleon's death, Swiss Public Television SRF takes a closer look at the changes he brought about in Switzerland, as he plowed his way across Europe with the French Imperial Army. --- swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Its role is to report on Switzerland and to provide a Swiss perspective on international events. For more articles, interviews and videos visit...

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Swiss Private Banks at Odds with Clients over ESG

2021-05-17

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2021-05-17

Switzerland used to be a place where the rich came with their money to escape the world’s problems, not to confront them. These days, the private banks that dot the pristine streets of Zurich and Geneva are no exception when it comes to the wave of enthusiasm that has broken over the asset management world for better environmental, social and governance standards.

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Swiss Life pays $77.4 million to placate US tax authorities

2021-05-16

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2021-05-16

Switzerland's largest insurance company Swiss Life has agreed to pay CHF70 million ($77.4 million) and enter a deferred prosecution agreement in the United States to resolve accusations it conspired to help wealthy Americans to avoid taxes.

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Organic farming continues to gain ground in Switzerland

2021-05-16

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2021-05-16

Switzerland continues to shift towards organic farming. Between 2000 and 2020, the number of organic farms has risen by 54%. In 2020, the number rose 3.8%. Organic farms now make up 15.3% of total farms in Switzerland, up from 6.9% 20 years ago. In 2000, there were 4,902 organic farms. By 2020, the number had risen 54% to 7,561.

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Nearly two thirds of Swiss support EU framework agreement, suggests poll

2021-05-15

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2021-05-15

Switzerland and the EU have been working at failing to agree on a new agreement on Switzerland’s relationship with the EU for sometime now. One point of negotiating leverage used by Switzerland is that Swiss voters would reject the deal proposed by the EU in a referendum. However, a recent poll suggests that might not be true.

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Covid: vaccination of 12 to 15 year olds on the horizon in Switzerland

2021-05-14

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2021-05-14

Covid Vaccination
Those with teenagers wishing for the greater travel freedom likely to come with proof of vaccination may have cause for hope. On 7 May 2021, Pfizer submitted an authorisation application to Swissmedic, Switzerland’s drug approval agency, for use of its vaccine against Covid-19 on those aged 12 to 15 years old.

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