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Category Archive: 3.) Swissinfo Business and Economy

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The Swiss textile machinery industry has a China dilemma

2021-03-31

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2021-03-31

Amid allegations of forced labour involving Uyghur and other minorities in the garment supply chain, the Swiss textile machinery sector faces thorny questions about its ties to and reliance on China. In 2014, the same year the Swiss-China free trade deal went into force, a group of industry colleagues including a representative of the Swiss firm Uster Technologies visitedExternal link cotton gins and spinning mills in Xinjiang, Western China.

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Electric cars are on the way, but is Switzerland ready?

2021-03-30

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2021-03-30

Last year saw a surge in new electric vehicle (EV) sales worldwide and Switzerland was no exception. But the experience of frontrunner countries like Norway shows that some things will have to change if the Swiss electric car revolution is to keep pace in the years ahead and reduce carbon emissions.

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Credit Suisse and Nomura warn of losses after Archegos-linked sell-off

2021-03-30

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2021-03-30

Credit Suisse and Nomura have warned of large losses after a fire sale of about $20bn of Chinese and US stocks, as their client Archegos Capital Management was forced into a huge unwinding of assets.

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Credit Suisse warns of ‘highly significant’ loss linked to hedge fund

2021-03-29

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2021-03-29

The Swiss bank Credit Suisse says it may face a “highly significant” loss in the first quarter due to an unnamed American hedge fund client defaulting on margin calls. In a statement issued on Monday, the bank said: “While at this time it is premature to quantify the exact size of the loss resulting from this exit, it could be highly significant and material to our first quarter results”.

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Covid-19: Can Swiss artists survive on current support measures?

2021-03-29

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2021-03-29

The Covid-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on the Swiss arts scene. Support measures have been introduced to “preserve cultural diversity” and some cantons have even launched monthly income support schemes for artists. But will these measures be enough?

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Swiss-EU relations hang in the balance

2021-03-23

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Discussions between the EU and Switzerland over the future of their bilateral relations could be on the verge of collapse. Over 100 bilateral treaties set the terms of relations between the two. These need updating. A framework agreement has been hammered out over seven years but there are sticking points and the deal is under fire from across the Swiss political spectrum. --- swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss Broadcasting...

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Pandemic hurts box office takings at Swiss cinemas

2021-03-23

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2021-03-23

Ticket sales at Swiss cinemas plummeted by two-thirds last year as venues were forced to close their doors. Of the films that could be shown, Swiss movies made up a greater share of the total offering.

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Swiss ‘too big to fail’ banks pose little risk to the economy

2021-03-21

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2021-03-21

Three of Switzerland’s “too big to fail” banks no longer threaten to cause a seismic shift in the economy should they collapse, says the financial regulator. Zurich Cantonal Bank, PostFinance and the Raiffeisen banking group are now deemed to have put into place credible plans for an orderly bankruptcy.

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Switzerland is wrangling over implementation of tougher tobacco laws

2021-03-20

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2021-03-20

The Swiss parliament is currently debating tightening restrictions on advertising of tobacco products. This comes after a people’s initiative calls for a radical advertising ban to protect children.

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How the Swiss central bank could control the cost of pandemic debt

2021-03-18

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2021-03-18

The cost of paying off spiralling national debt in the United States and Switzerland is rising as interest rates increase. This makes the financing of pandemic expenditure more expensive. That's not a problem in Japan where the central bank is holding interest rates in check. Would the Japanese recipe also be something for Switzerland?

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Bitcoin Suisse bank license bid hits regulatory roadblock

2021-03-18

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2021-03-18

Cryptocurrency firm Bitcoin Suisse has withdrawn its application for a banking license, in part because it failed to meet the anti-money laundering requirements of the Swiss financial regulator.

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How vaccine passports may make Swiss e-ID rejection obsolete

2021-03-17

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2021-03-17

UN economist Ian Richards argues that Swiss voters' fears of a proposal for an e-ID may be swept away as more countries see the benefits of digitising documents, including vaccine passports.

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A nightclub in an isolated Swiss town

2021-03-17

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Before Juliane and Nici opened Cult, young people in the eastern Swiss town of Scuol had to drive for miles – even across the border into Austria – for a bit of fun.

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Hack on US security-camera company sparks Swiss police raid

2021-03-15

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2021-03-15

Swiss authorities on Monday confirmed a police raid at the home of a Swiss hacker who took credit for helping to break into a US security-camera company’s online networks, part of what the hacker cited as an effort to raise awareness about the dangers of mass surveillance.

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More parcels, fewer letters: pandemic dents Swiss Post finances

2021-03-12

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2021-03-12

The Covid-19 pandemic cost the state-owned Swiss postal service CHF139 million ($150 million) last year, which was largely responsible for driving down profits by 30%. Swiss Post delivered a record 182.7 million parcels in 2020, up nearly a quarter in volume from the previous year.

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More rare earth metals detected at Swiss wastewater plants

2021-03-12

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2021-03-12

Rare earth metals like cerium and gadolinium, which are used in industry and hospitals, are increasingly being detected at Swiss wastewater plants, new research shows.

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Swiss government expects fast economic recovery in 2021

2021-03-11

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2021-03-11

After a weak start to the year, Switzerland’s economy should recover rapidly from a heavy coronavirus-driven slump to grow by 3% in 2021, the government said on Thursday. Gross domestic product will fall “significantly” in the first quarter of this year, after Covid-19 restrictions last December, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) said in a statement.

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No more free rides in free trade deals

2021-03-10

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2021-03-10

The Swiss narrowly voted in favour of a free trade deal with Indonesia on Sunday. Will future agreements also have to win popular support? Jessica covers the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to big global companies and their impact in Switzerland and abroad.

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Most adults in rich nations face long wait for vaccine, distributor warns

2021-03-09

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2021-03-09

More than half of adults in rich countries will still be waiting to receive a first dose of coronavirus vaccine in 15 months’ time, the head of a logistics group distributing jabs has warned. Detlef Trefzger, chief executive of Kuehne+Nagel, one of the world’s largest haulage companies, said: “This already is fast. This sounds shocking for some people, but we have to be realistic.”

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Swiss government wants to keep control of weapons exports

2021-03-07

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2021-03-07

The Swiss government has rejected calls to allow voters and cantons to set conditions for weapons exports. A people’s initiative collected enough signatures in 2019 to force a nationwide vote on the issue.

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