Category Archive: 3) Swiss Markets and News
Switzerland adds 10 more nations to its compulsory quarantine list
On 7 September 2020, Switzerland added to its list of quarantine countries. People entering Switzerland from 55 nations must now quarantine for 10 days. On 7 September 2020, 10 nations were added to the list. These include Croatia, French Polynesia, Guyana, Lebanon, Libya, Paraguay, San Marino, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates.
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Swiss-UK financial services pact antidote to EU intransigence
Switzerland and Britain are thrashing out a post-Brexit financial services treaty that is being billed as a global standard for common sense. It also takes aim at perceived EU inflexibility that has seen the Swiss stock market frozen out of European markets.
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Pandemic speeds up push to digital as bank branches close
Swiss lender Credit Suisse is set to launch an overhaul of its digital banking offering, as it uses the coronavirus crisis as a springboard to accelerate the push from bricks-and-mortar branches to online services.
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Valcambi refinery denies sourcing ‘dirty’ gold from Dubai
The Swiss-based Valcambi refinery has rejected accusations about gold dealings with a controversial company in the United Arab Emirates.
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Art Basel and UBS art market survey shows online sales and millennial collectors increasingly important to an art market hit hard by COVID-19
Art Basel and UBS today published a 2020 mid-year survey 'The Impact of COVID-19 on the Gallery Sector' written by renowned cultural economist Dr. Clare McAndrew, Founder of Arts Economics. The survey findings present an analysis of how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted 795 galleries operating in the Modern and contemporary gallery sector, representing 60 different markets across all levels of turnover, throughout the first six months of 2020.
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Switzerland takes Belgium and Mexico off Covid-19 ‘high risk’ list
People arriving in Switzerland from Belgium, Mexico and Luxembourg will no longer have to go into quarantine for ten days.
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Rights activists want Swiss-Chinese trade deal to be overhauled
Campaigners are urging the Swiss government to renegotiate a six-year-old free trade agreement with China to try to improve human rights and labour conditions for its Uighur Muslim minority.
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Ceneri Base Tunnel is officially open
The Ceneri Base Tunnel has been officially opened, with the first freight train passing through the tunnel in the southern Swiss canton of Ticino shortly after 11:30am. Passengers will have to wait for the new national rail timetable in December.
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Coronavirus: could masks explain Switzerland’s sharply declining death rate?
In Switzerland, over the three months following 31 May 2020, there have been 11,306 recorded cases of Covid-19 and 91 deaths, a case fatality rate (CFR) of 0.8%. However, up to this date there were 30,862 cases and 1,920 deaths, a CFR of 6.2%. Why has Switzerland’s CFR fallen so steeply?
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Swiss regulator escalates probe into Credit Suisse
The Swiss financial supervisor FINMA says it has opened enforcement proceedings against Credit Suisse into the 2019 spying affair that toppled the bank’s leadership and tarnished its reputation.
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Government exempts high-emission cars from Swiss climate goals
The Swiss government is easing the pressure on the automotive industry to reduce CO2 emissions, reports Sunday newspaper Le Matin Dimanche.
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Chinese-owned Swissport agrees emergency takeover
A consortium of investors has agreed a €800 million (CHF860 million) bailout of Chinese-owned airport services company Swissport. Revenues at the company have nosedived since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Geneva Airport expects 23 percent fewer passengers in 2021
Geneva Airport officials say the shockwaves of the Covid-19 pandemic will reverberate into next year, with the number of passengers flying to and from the airport expected to be down by almost a quarter compared with pre-coronavirus levels, according to Swiss public radio, RTS.
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Trading platforms profit from pandemic chaos
While Covid-19 has been wreaking havoc on the economy, many banks and trading platforms have recorded bumper results. Profits were boosted by elevated trading activity, but future prospects are mixed depending on the type of financial player.
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Time travelling in Basel
Why is the northern city of Basel described as Switzerland's cultural capital and how come the pharmaceutical industry started there? A new book called ‘Leaps in Time’ takes us on a journey down the centuries, introduces reformers, humanists, artists, plague doctors and the powerful tradesmen who ousted the aristocracy.
From the first settlement at the time of the Celts, it grew into Switzerland’s third most populous city. It’s known for its...
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Coronavirus: protestors march against Covid-19 measures in Zurich
On Saturday, around one thousand people took to the streets of Zurich to protest against government rules aimed at slowing the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to RTS.
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Swiss PostBus faces lawsuit in Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein transport companies are claiming CHF35 million ($38.7 million) in damages against Switzerland’s state-owned PostBus over alleged unfair business practices.
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Swiss economist says Covid-19 ‘winners’ should pay more tax
Companies that netted their best-ever earnings during the coronavirus crisis should be subject to extra tax, finds one of Switzerland’s top economists.
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Coronavirus: UK puts Switzerland back on Quarantine List
Travellers from Switzerland, Jamaica and Czech Republic who enter the UK from 4 am on Saturday 29 August 2020, must self-isolate for two weeks, the UK government announced this evening. The UK considers imposing quarantine when a country’s rate of infection exceeds 20 cases per 100,000 people over 7 days.
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Swiss Private Banks Brace for Coronavirus Impact
The Swiss private banking sector saw a resurgence in fortunes last year but faces an uncertain future as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to play havoc with financial markets. Favourable market conditions in 2019 allowed the 84 banks surveyed by KPMG to grow client assets by 14%, according to a recently published report by the audit firm.
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