Category Archive: 3.) Swissinfo Business and Economy

Filter archive by: Show All Show only Articles Show only Videos

Ukrainian students adjust to life in Switzerland

2022-06-24

by

The Lucerne School of Art and Design has taken in 29 Ukrainian students as exchange students rather than refugees. This means their time in Switzerland counts towards their degree. The 29 students come from the Lviv National Academy of Arts, a partner university. They came by bus via Warsaw, Poland, and then through Germany and on to Lucerne shortly after the war started in Ukraine. Monika Gold, head of the Bachelor’s Programme in Graphic Design,...

Read More »

Alpine rail tunnel and suburban train services to get boost

2022-06-24

by

2022-06-24

The government has presented plans for an upgrade of the country’s railway network, including an additional Alpine tunnel in western Switzerland. About CHF720 million ($745 million) have been set aside to upgrade the Lötschberg base tunnel and other regional projects near Zürich and Geneva in the next decade.

Read More »

Switzerland to ease exchange of Ukrainian currency in line with EU

2022-06-23

by

2022-06-23

Refugees with a special legal status will be able to exchange a limited amount of Ukranian banknotes for Swiss francs. The Swiss government on Wednesday announced that adults with a protection S status may exchange one amount of up to 10,000 hryvnia – the equivalent of CHF300 ($310.50) at selected branches of the two main Swiss banks, UBS and Credit Suisse.

Read More »

The Swiss army: your questions answered Part 1

2022-06-21

by

In Switzerland, all able-bodied men complete compulsory military service, while others opt for a civilian service. But how useful is a conscript army in light of what Russia did to Ukraine? This is one of many questions SWI readers sent to us. Daniel Reist, head of media relations for the Swiss armed forces, takes a shot at answering them. Our first question is can a small army be effective? More questions and answers are to follow in the coming...

Read More »

Long shadow of Russian money raises tricky questions for Swiss bankers

2022-06-21

by

2022-06-21

January used to be a big month for Swiss bankers and their Russian clients. Many of the Moscow elite had made a tradition of coming to the Alps for the orthodox new year, skiing with their families, then catching up with their financial consiglieri.

Read More »

Swiss lower economic growth forecasts due to war and inflation

2022-06-16

by

2022-06-16

The Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) has downgraded its economic growth forecast for 2022 to 2.6% due to the war in Ukraine and uncertainties in China.

Read More »

Ukraine war forces Swiss business to make choices on neutrality

2022-06-16

by

2022-06-16

Sanctions imposed on Russia have focused debate over the country’s long-cherished economic haven status. In the gleaming new Chipperfield extension of the Zurich Kunsthaus, all polished limestone and gold, is a room dedicated to expiating the moral debits of economic neutrality. The Bührle collection is one of the greatest privately-amassed troves of modern European art, and the pride of the new building.

Read More »

Foreign suitors for Credit Suisse face high hurdles

2022-06-15

by

2022-06-15

Switzerland’s typically liberal mergers and acquisitions market might make an exception for such a national institution.

Read More »

US tax authority asks Switzerland for client data from 26 institutions

2022-06-15

by

2022-06-15

The US tax authority IRS wants further information from the Swiss authorities on account data at 26 financial institutions. The IRS has made numerous requests for information in the past.

Read More »

24 hours inside a new Swiss prison

2022-06-14

by

Over 800 people volunteered to be locked up in a Zurich prison last month to test the new facility. SWI swissinfo.ch reporter May Elmahdi-Lichtsteiner was one of the lucky inmates selected for the trial. The Zurich cantonal authorities recently came up with the unusual idea to give the detention facility and staff a test run before the prison starts taking real inmates. The pilot project was intended as a good way of “ensuring the proper...

Read More »

Trafigura posts record half-year profit as commodities volatility intensifies

2022-06-14

by

2022-06-14

Geneva-based Trafigura reported record half-year profits as volatility and disruption in commodity markets, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, supercharged earnings for the world’s biggest traders.

Read More »

Tax on airline tickets wins sky-high public support

2022-06-13

by

2022-06-13

Almost three-quarters (72%) of respondents to a Swiss survey are in favour of increasing the price of airline tickets for climate reasons.

Read More »

Hotel booking platforms to face legal restrictions

2022-06-12

by

2022-06-12

Parliament has approved restrictions on online reservation platforms to protect the Swiss hotel sector.

Read More »

Credit Suisse pushed for spyware sales at NSO despite US blacklisting

2022-06-11

by

2022-06-11

Credit Suisse pushed for NSO Group to keep selling its Pegasus spyware to new customers just weeks after the US blacklisted the Israeli cyberweapon manufacturer, saying authoritarian regimes had used its hacking tool to silence dissent.

Read More »

Switzerland wants to play key role in rebuilding Ukraine

2022-06-10

by

2022-06-10

The Swiss are hosting a major international conference on reconstruction in Ukraine at the beginning of July. The agenda and a participants’ list are currently taking shape.  However, it’s unclear how much international enthusiasm this event – and its aims – will garner in the end.

Read More »

Sustainable investments boom in Switzerland

2022-06-09

by

2022-06-09

The volume of sustainable investments in Switzerland increased by almost a third last year, reaching an all-time high of CHF1.98 trillion ($2 trillion). 

Read More »

Meet Yello, the techno aliens from Zurich outer space

2022-06-07

by

Hailed as pioneers of techno music and still filling halls in the wake of a career spanning four decades, the Zurich duo has just won the Swiss Grand Award for Music. Speaking to SWI swissinfo.ch, they explain the secret to success: not to care about success at all. Boris Blank is the musical brains, but he confesses that he can’t read a score. Dieter Meier is the singer who learned how to sing on the job. Together they are Yello, probably the...

Read More »

Oerlikon to sell Russia business to local owners

2022-06-05

by

2022-06-05

Swiss industrial firm Oerlikon has announced that it will hand over ownership of its business in Russia to local management. In a brief statement released on Thursday, the Oerlikon Group said it had entered into an agreement with the local management team to sell all its operations in Russia. “The business will continue to operate independently under the new owners,” said the company.

Read More »

The world is at a turning point, but it was business-as-usual in Davos

2022-06-04

by

2022-06-04

It's easier to make lofty pledges about saving the world when the world isn't battling multiple crises. The World Economic Forum’s programme last week included the word “crisis” 42 times. Throughout the four-day event, "crisis" was uttered on panels on climate change, in interviews on the war in Ukraine, and in conversations on food shortages held around lavish buffet tables.

Read More »

Swiss set aside CHF100 million in Ukraine development funding

2022-06-03

by

2022-06-03

The Ukrainian funds available to the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) for 2022 will not affect projects elsewhere, an official said on Thursday. Before the Russian invasion in February, the SDC had earmarked CHF25 million ($26 million) for development and cooperation projects in Ukraine; parliament has since boosted this by CHF61 million, SDC director Patricia Danzi said on Thursday.

Read More »