Category Archive: 3.) Swissinfo Business and Economy

Switzerland bans flights from UK over new coronavirus

Switzerland has joined other European countries in suspending flights from the United Kingdom and South Africa after reports of a fast-spreading new coronavirus strain.

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Swiss style bakery in Boston

Swiss couple Helene and Thomas Stohr run their own bakery in Massachusetts. Every day, they produce an array of Swiss and European treats, including croissants, jelly doughnuts and braided bread. From a young age, the Stohrs dreamed of seeing the world, so they left Lucerne for North America 20 years ago. Thomas, a professional baker, worked in Canada and the US for various eateries, including Mövenpick, while Helene looked after their sons Tobias...

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Credit Suisse chief vows a ‘clean slate’ in 2021

The chief executive of Credit Suisse has vowed the bank will start 2021 with a “clean slate” after a torrid year that began with a damaging corporate spying scandal and was punctuated by embarrassing fallout from legacy compliance and lending failures.

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First Covid-19 vaccine approved for Swiss use

Swiss health regulator Swissmedic has approved the coronavirus vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech. According to the Swiss authorities, the level of protection is over 90% a week after the second dose.

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Countries still far from achieving sustainable development

The latest United Nations Human Development Report has found that countries, including Switzerland, still struggle to achieve high levels of human development without straining the planet.

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Switzerland among best placed to recover from Covid crisis

Switzerland is among the countries best equipped to withstand the effects of the global pandemic, although no nation has emerged unscathed, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF). 

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Switzerland and UK sign agreement on mobility of service suppliers

An agreement that secures reciprocal, facilitated market access for service providers from Switzerland and Britain from January 1 has been signed by Economics Minister Guy Parmelin and Liz Truss, the British Secretary of State for International Trade.

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Swiss footsteps in New Orleans

As a child, John Geiser III was surrounded by Swiss people in his grandfather’s adopted city of New Orleans. After the Second World War had ended, John was a young adult when his father took him to Switzerland for the first time. We met John in June 2019, when he gave us a tour of New Orleans. Over the course of a hot and humid morning – mainly on foot – he energetically showed us the traces of Swissness dotted throughout this city famous for its...

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WEF’s Asian relocation to cost Switzerland tens of millions

Swiss hotels, restaurants and shops are counting up the cost of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) flagship event moving to Singapore next year. This year’s 50th annual meeting realised a net gain of around CHF80 million ($90 million) for the Swiss economy.

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WEF annual meeting moves from Switzerland to Singapore

The coronavirus pandemic has forced the World Economic Forum (WEF) to relocate its flagship event to Singapore next year. It will be only the second time in 50 years that it will be staged outside of the Swiss mountain resort of Davos.

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Swissair liquidator extracts CHF2.75 million from former bosses

Former Swissair bosses have been ordered to pay CHF2.75 million ($3 million) almost 20 years after the national airline carrier went bust. The bill has been presented to 14 former managers after many years of legal wrangling and court battles.

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Covid continues to stress Swiss economy

Overnight hotel stays fell by more than 40% during the summer as Switzerland locked down against coronavirus. The pandemic has also battered the finances of the airline industry, but most smaller companies have retained some optimism for the future.

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Coronavirus, December 7: the latest numbers

Here is an overview of the most important Swiss-related coronavirus data and graphs, which are updated automatically.

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Koyo Kouoh: Art is in the cracks, not in the polish

The Meret Oppenheim prize took Koyo Kouoh by surprise, and not just because she doesn't care about prizes. The Swiss-Cameroonian curator says she never found much of an echo in Switzerland for her artistic interests – postcolonialism, African diaspora, and identity politics – for which she has received praise in many other countries. Koyo Kouoh, described by The New York Times in 2015 as “one of Africa’s pre-eminent art curators”, is always on...

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Five lessons from the Swiss ‘responsible business’ vote

The battle over the responsible business initiative is now over. The way the campaign was managed and how the issue was eventually decided says a lot about Switzerland.

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Bill Browder threatens legal action over Swiss bank accounts linked to Magnitsky scandal

High-profile Kremlin critic and investor Bill Browder has threatened Credit Suisse and UBS with legal action for breaching US sanctions if they unfreeze accounts belonging to three Russian clients accused of a huge tax fraud against his investment company.

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Life as an expat in Swiss cities: the good news and the less good news

From tip-top transport in Basel to housing headaches in Geneva, foreign residents share what they love and loathe about the four Swiss cities featured in the Expat City Ranking 2020. This content was published on November 26, 2020 - 09:00 November 26, 2020 - 09:00 Thomas Stephens Born in London, Thomas was a journalist at The Independent before moving to Bern in 2005. He speaks all three official Swiss languages and enjoys...

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Swiss pledge CHF104 million in development aid for Afghanistan

At an international conference in Geneva to source funding for Afghanistan, Switzerland has renewed its annual CHF26 million ($28.48 million) pledge for another four years.

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Government hopes for ‘first successful pension reforms’ of the century

In summer 2019 the social partners agreed on a reform of the Swiss occupational pension scheme. The government on Wednesday adopted this compromise unchanged; the ball is now in parliament’s court.

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Clariant plans to slash more jobs

Swiss speciality chemicals firm Clariant has announced further job cuts amid a series of divestments.

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