Tag Archive: Business

‘Cryptocurrencies too primitive for national money’: SNB director

2018-06-24

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2018-06-24

Cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology they run on are currently far too primitive for the Swiss central bank to consider issuing a digital franc, says board director Thomas Moser. Moser’s comments on Thursday reflected the previously stated stance taken by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) towards an e-franc version of bitcoin.

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Switzerland has most expensive food and drinks in Europe

2018-06-22

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2018-06-22

Switzerland has been ranked the second-most expensive European country behind Iceland for consumer goods, which are 59% higher than the European Union average. Food and non-alcoholic drinks are particularly pricey.

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Driving licence loses attraction for young Swiss

2018-06-21

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2018-06-21

The number of people who applied for a Swiss driving licence dropped by 2% last year, with applications from 18- to 24-year-olds down 3%. Some 5.8 million people owned a driving licence for cars in 2017, the Federal Roads Officeexternal link said on Tuesday. This 1% increase was due not only to new drivers but also to foreign licences being exchanged for Swiss ones and natural population growth, it explained.

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Rail workers stand against proposed cuts

2018-06-19

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2018-06-19

Some 1,400 rail workers took to the streets across the country on Monday to protest a package of cuts and reforms planned by the Swiss Federal Railways. The demonstrations, called for by the Union for public transport workers (SEV), were spread across several Swiss cities: Geneva, Lausanne, Olten, Bern, and Zurich, where the largest event brought together about 350 workers in the late afternoon.

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Switzerland remains biggest offshore wealth centre

2018-06-17

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2018-06-17

The stock market boom boosted personal financial wealth around the globe by 12% last year – to the benefit of Switzerland. It is still the world’s biggest centre for managing offshore wealth at $2.3 trillion (CHF2.3 trillion). Figures revealed in a Boston Consulting Group report published on Thursday put the country ahead of Hong Kong ($1.1 trillion) and Singapore ($900 billion). The Swiss sum is the equivalent of almost one third of all global...

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Financial watchdog accuses Raiffeisen of major governance failings

2018-06-15

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2018-06-15

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has concluded its investigation into Swiss bank Raiffeisen, saying it identified “serious shortcomings” in governance. “FINMA has found that the bank’s handling of conflicts of interest was inadequate,” the regulatory body said in a statementexternal link on Thursday.

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Swiss health costs set to exceed CHF10,000 per person

2018-06-14

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2018-06-14

The average Swiss will for the first time spend more than CHF10,000 ($10,159) on health care in 2018 and 2019, according to an economic research institute and think tank. KOF, part of the federal technology institute ETH Zurich, says this is down to the growing economy: the more people earn, the more they spend on their health. It also bases its calculations on the growing proportion of old people in the Swiss population.

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Swiss jobless rate drops to 2.4 percent

2018-06-11

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2018-06-11

The unemployment rate in Switzerland has reached a new nadir – just 2.4%, according to latest official statistics. The number of jobseekers is the lowest since the financial crisis. The statistics, published by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) on Thursday, show that the numbers of unemployed turning up at job centres fell by 9% last month, bringing the overall unemployment rate down from 2.7% to 2.4%.

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‘Much too early’ to lift interest rates, says SNB chairman

2018-06-09

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2018-06-09

The continued volatility surrounding the Italian elections and the threat of global trade wars make it far too early for the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to consider raising rock bottom interest rates, says chairman Thomas Jordan.

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Swiss Prosecutors will not Pursue Novartis over Trump Lawyer Payments

2018-06-09

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2018-06-09

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) announced on Wednesday that it will not bring proceedings against Novartis in connection with the payments the Swiss pharmaceutical company made to Donald Trump’s personal lawyer.

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Parliament snubs Swiss expat calls for better banking ties

2018-06-08

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2018-06-08

The Swiss Abroad community has suffered a new setback in its efforts to receive improved access to banking services in Switzerland. The House of Representatives on Tuesday threw out a call on the government to ease the financial woes of expatriates by publishing relevant information on the websites of the foreign ministry and Switzerland’s diplomatic representations abroad for the Swiss overseas communities.

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PostFinance Еxpected to Axe 500 Jobs

2018-06-07

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2018-06-07

Post Finance external link, one of Switzerland’s leading financial institutions, expects to cut up to 500 full-time jobs by the end of 2020. The banking division of the Post Office has launched multiple measures to counter the erosion of profit margins and the resulting decline in revenues.

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Slowdown in Middle Eastern tourists to Switzerland

2018-06-05

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2018-06-05

After almost tripling in the last decade, the number of tourists to Switzerland from the Middle East is slowing down, with the slowdown expected to be particularly marked this summer. The growth rate of tourists from the Gulf will be zero this summer, according to forecasts by Oxford Economics and the Swiss tourist board.

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Swiss Bank to Drop Iranian Business

2018-06-01

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2018-06-01

A Swiss lender is suspending new transactions with Iran following US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Tehran. Banque de Commerce et de Placements (BCP)external link announced on Tuesday that it was wrapping up its activity in Iran in response to the US pulling out of the Iranian nuclear accord earlier this month.

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Nestlé to cut up to 500 jobs in Switzerland

2018-05-31

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2018-05-31

Swiss food giant Nestlé plans to cut as many as 500 computer-service jobs in Switzerland as part of a restructuring plan to increase profitability, the company announced on Tuesday. Nestlé will be outsourcing the IT jobs to Spain, according to a press releaseexternal link published on the company’s website.

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Crowdfunding Platforms Boom in Switzerland

2018-05-30

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2018-05-30

Swiss crowdfunding platforms dealt with CHF375 million ($377 million) in 2017, almost three times as much as the previous year. Some 160,000 people supported a crowdfunding project. Over the past eight years, more than half a billion francs have been collected via the “swarm-based form of financing”, said the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts on Monday.

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Record restaurant closures blamed on strong franc

2018-05-28

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2018-05-28

More than three times as many pubs and restaurants disappeared in Switzerland last year as the year before. The catering industry points the finger at the strong franc, responsible for more bankruptcies (+4.4%) and fewer new openings (-25%).

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Switzerland Remains in Top Five for Competitiveness Despite Fall

2018-05-25

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2018-05-25

Switzerland has dropped from second to fifth place in an annual ranking of the world’s most competitive economies, whilst the United States have moved up three places to the top. Switzerland’s fall is due mainly to “a slowdown in exports, job growth and international investment”, says the Lausanne-based IMD business schoolexternal link, which compiles the 63-country ranking.

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Swiss pharma suspected of delaying generic competition

2018-05-24

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2018-05-24

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published Thursday a list of pharmaceutical companies that include Basel-based Novartis and Roche, all of which are suspected of hindering the development of generic versions of their own medicines. Over 150 complaints were filed.

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Alpine tunnel closure causes major holiday traffic disruption

2018-05-23

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2018-05-23

Traffic queues of up to 28 kilometres were reported at the northern entrance to the Gotthard tunnel on Saturday, owing to a long weekend and the closure of another major Alpine road tunnel because of a fire. The San Bernadino tunnel in southeast Switzerland was closed on Friday afternoon after a German tourist bus caught fire in the tunnel, leaving two people with minor injuries. It is expected to remain closed over the Pentecost weekend, since the...

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