Category Archive: 3) Swiss Markets and News

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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.
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New trade barriers could hamper the supply of masks and medicines

2020-03-13

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2020-03-13

Mar 11th 2020IT IS BAD enough when individuals stockpile pasta and toilet paper. It is worse when governments put a protective ring around medical equipment. As the covid-19 pandemic leads to a rush for medical gear, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that supplies of respirators and medical masks will not keep up with demand, and soon global stocks of gowns and goggles will be insufficient too.

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Online shopping breaches CHF10 billion mark

2020-03-12

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2020-03-12

Swiss shoppers spent more than CHF10 billion ($11 billion) online last year, an increase of 8.4% from 2018, according to a study of retail habits. Electronics and fashion goods dominated orders. Food accounted for just 2.8% of the total goods consumed (up from 1.8% in 2018), but the report’s authors expect orders to increase this year with people reluctant to go to supermarkets in view of the coronavirus outbreak.

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No ‘ghost flights’ to Zurich airport, authorities say

2020-03-11

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2020-03-11

With passenger numbers down due to Covid-19, some airlines want authorities to loosen rules maintain that airport landing slots are lost unless fully used. “Use it or lose it”: regulations state that when an airline is allocated a landing slot, it must use it at least 80% of the time planned, or else risk being stripped of it the following year.

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Roche tells all Spanish staff to work remotely

2020-03-11

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2020-03-11

Swiss pharma giant Roche said on Tuesday it would send all of its 1,200 Spanish employees home starting from Wednesday to work remotely amid the coronavirus outbreak. “The company will maintain its normal activity and will guarantee, as until now, the supply of medicines to hospitals,” Roche said in a statement.

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Coronavirus hits Swiss train passenger numbers

2020-03-10

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2020-03-10

The number of people taking trains in Switzerland has fallen since the outbreak of the coronavirus, resulting in a huge financial hit, Swiss Federal Railways reported on Tuesday.

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Swiss hotels poised for big losses after record 2019

2020-03-10

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2020-03-10

The Swiss hotel industry could lose out on up to half a billion francs in 2020 due to the impact of Covid-19, the boss of the country’s tourism body has said. Martin Nydegger of Switzerland Tourism said on Monday that he expects the virus to account for some 2.1 million fewer overnight stays in Swiss hotels this year compared with 2019, amounting to financial losses of CHF532 million ($574 million).

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Preparing society for an AI-infused future

2020-03-06

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Benjamin Rosman, a Professor in robotics and machine learning at Wits, decodes Artificial Intelligence and the impact it will have on society. You can listen to the podcast here: https://invest.ec/39tbepl

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Financing a sustainable future

2020-03-06

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Investec’s Fani Titi and the JSE’s Dr Leila Fourie are two of 30 global CEOs tasked by the UN to find funding for the inclusive, low-carbon and climate-resilient future envisioned by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this Focus Talk, they chat to Tanya dos Santos, Investec’s Group head of sustainability, on taking sustainability …

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Credit Suisse linked to list of 12,000 Nazis found in Argentina

2020-03-06

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2020-03-06

A list of 12,000 Nazis who are said to have lived in Argentina from the 1930s onwards has been found in Buenos Aires. Many of the Nazi sympathisers reportedly paid money into one or more accounts at Schweizerische Kreditanstalt, which later became Credit Suisse.

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Chinese economic disruption hits Swiss supply chains

2020-03-05

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2020-03-05

China’s sharp contraction in economic activity over the past month due to the coronavirus epidemic is sending shockwaves across the globe. Switzerland is one of the top ten countries exposed to Chinese supply disruptions, a United Nations report reveals.

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Red Bull profits from Swiss sugar subsidies

2020-03-04

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2020-03-04

The makers of sweet products benefit from the federal subsidies paid to sugar beet farmers in Switzerland. The price of sugar in Switzerland has been on the decline for years. As a result, 400 farmers have quit producing it in recent years. Sugar beet producers receive annual subsidies amounting to CHF36 million ($38 million).

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How to become Swiss

2020-03-04

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If you have a connection to Switzerland through your family or your partner and want to make it official by becoming Swiss yourself – this is how you can go about it. The Swiss passport can seem difficult to get. In this ‘Switzerland Explained’ video we describe how to kickstart the application process if you’re living abroad and how to find out …

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Potential relief for some Swiss renters

2020-03-02

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2020-03-02

Every three months the rate of interest used to benchmark Swiss rents is reviewed. If it goes down some renters have the right to request a decrease in rent. This time the reference rate fell from 1.50% to 1.25%. The last time it dropped was 2 June 2017 when it fell to 1.5%. The rate is based on the average Swiss mortgage rate over three months.

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Swiss price watchdog calls for reduction in train ticket prices

2020-03-02

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2020-03-02

With track fees for rail companies set to drop, savings should be passed on to customers, Stefan Meierhans told the weekly NZZ am Sonntag. The call comes on the heels of revelations that two state-owned rail firms wrongly claimed millions in subsidies.

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Transport operators told to pay back millions in state subsidies

2020-03-01

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2020-03-01

Two more Swiss state-owned transport companies have been ordered to pay back more than CHF50 million ($51 million) in wrongly claimed subsidies. The authorities are also looking into the possibility of criminal prosecutions in connection with the worsening subsidies scandal.

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Close to one fifth of households in Switzerland behind on debt payments

2020-02-29

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2020-02-29

In 2017, 18.9% of Switzerland’s population lived in a household with outstanding debt repayments, a percentage that has rose from 17.7% over the proceeding 4 years. The most common forms of outstanding debts were taxes, health insurance premiums and phone bills. 9.9% of households had outstanding tax payments, 7.3% owed health insurance money and 5.2% had an outstanding telecommunications bill.

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Swiss business takes on global waste

2020-02-29

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2020-02-29

Mr. Green, a recycling subscription service with a social mission, has been a big hit with busy families and businesses in cities in Switzerland. But can it work in Africa? Swiss entrepreneur Keiran Smith had no connection with Kenya before starting Mr. Green Africa.

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Geneva watch fair cancelled over coronavirus fears

2020-02-28

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2020-02-28

The organisers of Watches & Wonders Geneva – the former Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) - have cancelled their annual watch fair due to take place from April 25-29, amid fears over the new coronavirus outbreak.

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Transforming trauma into creative expression | The power of art

2020-02-27

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“You put a page and a pencil in front of one of our learners and sometimes they struggle to just make a mark. Because to make a mark is to make yourself vulnerable, and there’s no space for vulnerability where they live.” To appreciate the tranformative power of art, watch as some 15,000 pieces of …

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Should rail commuter data be monetised through advertising?

2020-02-26

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2020-02-26

Swiss Federal Railways is coming under fire for using the personal data of commuters for advertising purposes. The data commissioner and a watchdog group have sounded the alarm bell as the volume of data being harnessed grows.

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