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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.
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Almost one in five Swiss residents have dual nationality

2018-09-26

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2018-09-26

Around 17% of Swiss residents over the age of 15 hold two passports. The canton of Geneva has the highest proportion of dual nationals at 45%. According to figures released by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) on Tuesday, the double nationality rate exceeds 20% in the cantons of Zurich, Basel City, Ticino, Vaud and Neuchâtel.

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Swiss Health Insurance Costs to Rise Further in 2019

2018-09-25

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2018-09-25

Health Insurance
More bad news for Swiss household budgets was released today for residents of all but three Swiss cantons. Health insurance premiums in 2019 will be on average 1.2% higher than in 2018 across Switzerland as a whole. However, within this figure there are significant cantonal variations.

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Thousands demonstrate in Bern for equal pay

2018-09-24

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2018-09-24

A national rally in favour of equal pay and against discrimination has taken place in the Swiss capital, attracting some 20,000 people, according to organisers. Unions, political parties and supporting organisations said in the run-up to the rally on Saturday that although equality was enshrined in the constitution 37 years ago and the law had been in force for 22 years, even today power and money are distributed differently among women and men.

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Swiss CEOs still the best-off in Europe

2018-09-23

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2018-09-23

A report on the salaries of CEOs across Europe has found that Switzerland once again tops the table, ahead of Great Britain and Germany. The report also discovers that salaries have risen over the past year.

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Swiss investors launch $100m blockchain start-up factory

2018-09-22

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2018-09-22

A consortium of Swiss investors has launched a private equity vehicle that aims to collect up to $100 million with the long-term goal of getting 1,000 blockchain companies off the ground internationally every year. The Swiss company Crypto Valley Venture Capital (CV VC) launched its initial “Genesis Hub” incubator in Zug, home to Switzerland’s Crypto Valley, on Thursday.

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Commodity Trading Consortium Launches Blockchain Platform

2018-09-21

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2018-09-21

A consortium of commodities traders, banks and the world’s largest goods inspection company have joined forces to launch a blockchain platform in Switzerland, which is intended to ease the administrative burden of shifting oil, grain and other products around the world.

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Clariant announces strategic overhaul with Saudi partner

2018-09-20

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2018-09-20

Swiss specialty chemical maker Clariant has signed a memorandum of understanding to enter into a strategic partnership with Saudi Arabian firm SABIC. This will result in a major restructuring of the company along with changes in management and the board of directors. On Tuesday, Clariant said the collaboration will see the merger of units from both companies into a new High Performance Materials division.

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Swiss Housing – the hardest and easiest places to find a home

2018-09-19

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2018-09-19

Horw
Recent government figures show a 13% rise in the number of vacant homes over the 12 months to June 2018. The number has more than doubled since 2009 when there were close to 35,000 vacant dwellings. By 1 June 2018, there were more than 72,000, a vacancy rate of 1.62%.

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Over 7,000 farms get lower subsidies due to irregularities

2018-09-18

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2018-09-18

The federal authorities last year cut direct subsidies paid to 16% of all Swiss farms due to irregularities often due to animal protection and welfare issues. In all, 7,145 farms, or 16% of the total, received lower payments, the SonntagsZeitung wrote on Sunday. The report was based on figures that have yet to be published by the Federal Office for Agriculture, but which were confirmed by the economics ministry.

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Credit Suisse found lacking in fight against money laundering

2018-09-17

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2018-09-17

Swiss bank Credit Suisse has failed to meet its obligations to prevent money laundering, says Switzerland’s financial supervisory authority. According to FINMA, the Financial Market Supervisory Authorityexternal link, the misconduct is related to the alleged corruption cases around FIFA, world football’s governing body, and the oil companies Petrobas and PDVSA.

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Some Swiss Rail ticket machines set to disappear

2018-09-16

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2018-09-16

Ticket machines once replaced many of the people selling ticket from counters. Now the internet and mobile phones threatens ticket machines. As more and more people use dash past ticket machines with an electronic train ticket in their pocket, Swiss Rail is looking at phasing out some machines according to various newspapers including 20 Minutes.

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Basel-EuroAirport rail link should open in 2028

2018-09-16

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2018-09-16

The EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Fribourg Airport should be accessible by rail by 2028. Project leaders are convinced that trains will replace the buses currently connecting the city of Basel to the airport within ten years. The French national railway company SNCF said on Thursday that is it is normal that financing for a project of this magnitude is not yet fully secured in France.

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Swiss agricultural policy costs households 2,500 francs a year, according to study

2018-09-15

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2018-09-15

Broadly, Switzerland’s agricultural sector costs the country CHF 19.9 billion while contributing only CHF 3.4 billion, concludes a study published by the think tank Avenir Suisse. The CHF 19.9 billion cost the report’s authors calculate is made up of tax breaks and direct federal and cantonal payments to the sector (4.9b), the cost of artificially inflated consumer prices due to import restrictions (4.6b), environmental damage (7.3b), and the...

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New long-haul budget airline from Basel launches fundraising

2018-09-14

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2018-09-14

The idea is simple. Keep costs low by flying point-to-point, thus avoiding costly hubs, use one model of aircraft to contain pilot and aircraft maintenance costs, and charge passengers for everything from coffee to checked-in luggage. Southwest Airlines was first to launch the model and copycats like EasyJet followed.

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Is the tide turning for social media platforms in Switzerland?

2018-09-13

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2018-09-13

The Swiss appear to be switching off from social media, according to a survey, which suggests that the image of Facebook and Twitter have taken a hit. Some 55% of the Swiss population used social media in 2017, down 4% compared with a year earlier, a media brand study for the consultancy firm Publicom revealed. The report, published on Wednesday, says that social media lost more users last year than print media.

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Takeovers and trade at heart of minister’s China visit

2018-09-11

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2018-09-11

It is unfair that whilst Chinese investors can buy Swiss companies the reverse is not possible, says economics minister Johann Schneider-Ammann, who is currently on a visit to China. In an interview with the “Schweiz am Wochenende” newspaper, he reiterated his view that this must be rectified. For infrastructure like electricity supply and telecommunications, the government should be able to intervene “if a company is threatened by a foreign...

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Older people marginalized on Swiss labour market, says report

2018-09-10

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2018-09-10

Despite recent government optimism about the Swiss economy, older people who lose their jobs are struggling, reports Sunday newspaper “Le Matin Dimanche”. The paper cites figures from the Bern University of Applied Sciences that found only 13.9 per cent of unemployed people over 50 in Switzerland find a stable job again. Many end up on social assistance after their unemployment benefits run out.

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Vaud to cap health insurance premiums at 12 percent of income

2018-09-09

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2018-09-09

Starting in September 2018, health insurance premiums in excess of 12% of income in the canton of Vaud will be covered by the government. From the beginning of 2019, this percentage will be reduced to 10%, increasing the number of people who qualify and the size of the subsidies, according to the newspaper Le Matin.

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Melting glaciers have little impact on Swiss hydropower

2018-09-08

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2018-09-08

Although rapidly melting glaciers provide a temporary boost to Swiss hydropower production, their disappearance does not pose a threat, finds a study from the University of Lausanne. Forecasts predict that glacier melt will slow down between 2070 and 2090. But “fears of a threat to power generation are unfounded”, according to a press release published on Thursday by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), which funded the study.

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India’s Aurobindo buys Sandoz US assets from Novartis

2018-09-07

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2018-09-07

Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis announced the divestment of its dermatology and generic tablet portfolios of Sandoz US to India’s Aurobindo Pharma for a $900 million (CHF870 million) cash payment. A possible performance-related payment of $100 million could be added to the purchase price, the Swiss AWP financial news agency reported.

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