Global warming is still on the rise. Renewable energies are among the key tools for limiting this climate change, so investors benefit twice over from alternative investments in clean energy sources.

Today, climate change is affecting every country on every continent. The impacts – from rising sea levels to longer periods of drought – are putting entire economies at risk, even if these costs are not yet fully visible. Moving to renewable energies is one of the most effective tools in the fight against climate change, as it offers an immediate means to significantly reduce global carbon dioxide

The US Federal Reserve (Fed) raised its prime rate for the third time in mid-March, by 0.25. Additional interest-rate hikes are expected to follow. What does this mean for bond investors? 

Despite a slight rise in the interest rates for fixed-income products, the bond market is still far from normalized. In fact, it is quite the opposite, since interest rates are still low. For instance, the interest rates for 10-year Swiss government bonds are still in the negative range.
As such, the loose central bank monetary policies in place since the 2008 financial crisis are still affecting bond

The low interest rate environment is making it difficult for private investors to invest their money profitably. However, they could glean potential investment strategies from pension funds. 

The persistent low interest rate environment poses a challenge both for institutional and private investors. In response to this, many Swiss pension funds have adapted their investment strategies, with the percentage of bonds in their portfolios reduced in favor of equities, real estate, and alternative investments.
Only Investing in Low-Risk Products Barely Produces a Return
As part of its new pension fund

Why is inflation so low and what is driving the stock market? Find out here.

The world economy is growing and stock markets are rising ever higher. However, inflation and capital market yields remain low. Burkhard Varnholt, Global deputy chief investment officer at Credit Suisse, explains the reason for this discrepancy in a video and why there is hardly any inflation.

Key take-aways:
There are three reasons for capital market yields being so low: Digitalization curbs inflation irrespective of economic growth. Demographic aging forces pension funds to invest

Senior population is expected to grow to more than 2 billion people by 2050. Aging society means gains for companies focused on seniors: healthcare and insurance sectors are expected to benefit in particular.

The population aging is a global fact. It will strongly influence markets and economies posing both investing challenges and opportunities.
Demography Influences Economy
Fertility rates have been declining for decades and we are already below the population replacement level of 2.1 in many countries. The median age worldwide will be 36.1 years in 2050 compared to 29.6 today. Life expectancy

They seldom make headlines, and yet they employ four out of every ten workers in Switzerland: Family firms are a pillar of the Swiss economy. 

The business section of most newspapers rarely reports on their doings. They communicate little about themselves, and few researchers explore them. They are family firms. What sets them apart? How many of them are there, even? And how do they manage succession? A large-scale study conducted by Credit Suisse and the Center for Family Business at the University of St. Gallen recently investigated family firms, focusing on succession – an issue that is

Mark Sandmeier was the first person to be employed by jobs.ch. He now spends his time helping young digital companies get on their feet.

What is my job? "I’m the CEO of a start-up," says the affable man with the open face. "CEO sounds fine, but I didn’t like ‘Managing Director’ at all," he adds with a laugh. Mark Sandmeier – jeans, shirt, jacket – sits in a small boardroom of modern, Scandinavian snugness that belongs to one of the 15 start-ups in which he has participated in recent years. He holds one CEO position and three supervisory board posts and is a coach, consultant and dormant partner

Switzerland has been classified as one of the happiest countries in the world. Commonly stated reasons for this are the sense of community, beautiful landscapes, fresh air, and clean water. Not to mention prosperity. ‘Switzerland: A Financial Market History’, by the Credit Suisse Research Institute in partnership with leading experts from the London Business School and Cambridge Judge Business School, investigates the sources of the country’s economic success. The report highlights low inflation as one of the key success factors.

Urs Rohner, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Credit Suisse Group AG, on the

His Midas touch prevails off court as well as on. Not only has he won 100 million US dollars in tennis prizes over the past two decades, Roger Federer has also struck gold in sponsoring, management and more – not always in a conventional way.

As a sportsman, his feats are blindingly obvious: "best tennis player ever" says it all. Less obvious are the business accomplishments. There are top-drawer sponsorships, some of which he has personally engineered. There is a direct step-out into sports marketing, presidency of the tennis-players’ council and helping to create a new tournament to honor a

Impact investing is a growing industry that has gained in popularity and importance in the last few years. This is not surprising, says Harvard Professor Michael Chu: It is driven by the concept that a social or ecological problem may be addressed via a commercial platform, which many people find attractive. Due to the high demand, some of the main focus points of the industry are now to launch new and risk-adjusted products, as well as to "mainstream" the market. 

Sara, 9 years old, is an eager student in her classroom a few hours outside Kampala. She is back in school since last year when a

Technology companies are constantly innovating. Credit Suisse supports them in a variety of ways, including its unique networking platform, the Credit Suisse Private Internet Company Summit.

Internet companies constantly innovate to cater to the structural shift toward more enriching online experiences. Credit Suisse supports them through offering a unique networking platform – the Credit Suisse Private Internet Company Summit. At the second annual Summit, Credit Suisse brought together technology-focused entrepreneurs, executives and investors to foster a dialogue around the latest ideas and

Millennials are a generation that receives much attention these days. Sustainability, clean energy, impact investing matter to the Millennials and will gain importance in the coming years, not least from an investment point of view.

Fifty percent of the world’s population is under the age of 30, and the values of this generation – we refer to its constituents as Millennials – are set to become the norm. Therefore, we defined Millennials’ Values (among them social and environmental responsibility) as one of five Supertrends – long-term themes expected to dominate in the coming years and provide

Beware of excessive optimism: It would be risky to assume that the Swiss financial center will automatically benefit from Brexit. The situation according to Urs Rohner, chairman of Credit Suisse Group.

In the aftermath of the Brexit vote in summer 2016, experts’ views on its short- to medium-term cross-border impact were ambivalent. The initial analysis of its expected impact on Switzerland’s bargaining position vis-à-vis the European Union (EU) was also characterized by considerable uncertainty. 

Most players in Switzerland assumed that it would have both

Inflation rates in the advanced and developing economies are showing little upside pressure. 

Global inflation trends remain quite benign. In most of the major advanced economies, headline inflation peaked in the first quarter once the positive base effects from energy price developments had faded. In the major emerging markets, inflation is also mostly in decline, with the recovery of their currencies combined with still weak domestic demand the most important drivers in countries such as Russia and Brazil. Looking ahead, we see good reason for this benign global environment of relatively low

The Fed’s new forecasts show a third rate hike in 2017 for the second half of the year and three more in 2018.

As expected, the US Federal Reserve raised the target range for the policy rate by 25 basis points to 1.00 percent – 1.25 percent. It also updated its policy normalization principles with specifics on how it intends to end reinvesting maturing assets on its balance sheet. The Fed’s new forecasts show a third rate hike in 2017 for the second half of the year and three more in 2018. An announcement on balance sheet policy changes could come as soon as the September meeting, which would

The Credit Suisse economists are leaving their quarterly growth forecast for the Swiss economy in 2017 unchanged at 1.5 percent. For 2018 they expect growth to accelerate slightly to 1.7 percent, according to the latest issue of "Monitor Switzerland." Inflation is likely to be 0.5 percent in both years.

Political and monetary policy decisions such as the acceptance of the Mass Immigration Initiative (MII) and abandonment of the EUR/CHF minimum exchange rate by the Swiss National Bank (SNB), as well as geographically more distant events such as the Brexit vote in the UK and Donald Trump’s

Pound weakness underlines the Conservative Party failing to secure the expected Brexit mandate.

Exit polls from the UK general election point to the Conservatives winning just 316 seats, down from their pre-election 330 seats. The Labour Party could win 265 seats, up from 231 before the election. As such, the polls suggest the Conservative Party has failed to secure a significant overall majority and has fallen far short of initial expectations. This hands the Conservative Party a weaker mandate going into the Brexit negotiations than anticipated.
Pound as Shock Absorber
The initial reaction of

The almost 15-year era of rising prices for residential properties appears to be at an end. In the coming quarters, an overall sideways trend can be expected. Single-family dwellings ought to outpace condominiums in terms of price growth.

For nearly one and a half decades, condominium prices have moved in just one direction: north. The high price level and stricter regulations have cooled price growth for several years and, most recently, even brought it to a halt. Prices of residential properties are currently edging down in most regions of Switzerland, and should be more or less flat for the

The Millennials are one of the largest generations in history and soon reaching maturity as investors. Their values – particularly caring about the environment and climate change – are most likely to become ever more influential topics and fuel growth in areas such as sustainable investment and clean energy. 

Fifty percent of the world’s population is under the age of 30, and the values of this generation are set to become the norm. The term "Millennials" (or "Generation Y") refers to those of 19-35 years of age, and "Generation Z" refers to those under the age of 19. We refer to them simply as

At the 19th Credit Suisse Salon in Dubai on May 09, 2017, former US Secretary John Kerry sat down in conversation with Sir John Major, former UK Prime Minister, on Living in times of uncertainty: the path ahead for the Middle East. They covered a wide range of topics: climate change, the Iran deal, Syria, the root causes for the surge in public dissatisfaction, and the roles of governments and the private sector.

In his opening speech, host Iqbal Khan, Chief Executive Officer, International Wealth Management, observed that the markets seem to be driven by sentiments rather than economic

One of the most effective, most tangible and measurable ways to enhance people’s lives is to fuel and empower the world’s entrepreneurs – the individuals whose imagination and power create the next disruption in finance, technology, medicine, transportation, agriculture and every industry that affects the lives of millions of individuals in societies around the world.
At Credit Suisse, supporting entrepreneurs underpins so much of what we do. It is part of our heritage. More than 160 years ago, Alfred Escher founded the predecessor bank of Credit Suisse, which played a key part in financing the construction of the Swiss national railway, connecting the country for the first

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Die Wirtschaft der Kantone St. Gallen und beider Appenzell ist stark industriell geprägt. Die für die Region so wichtige Maschinen-, Elektro- und Metallindustrie sah sich in den letzten Jahren mit erheblichen Schwierigkeiten konfrontiert. Gemäss der neusten Regionalstudie der Credit Suisse stehen die Zeichen nun auf Erholung.

Der Kanton St. Gallen ist mit der Grösse und Anziehungskraft seiner Hauptstadt ein wichtiges Zentrum der Ostschweiz. Neben attraktiven Unternehmenssteuern bietet er ein gutes Fachkräfteangebot.

The general economic outlook for Mexico is promising, despite the headwind it faces. Credit Suisse’s newly established advisory office in Mexico City will allow its private banking clients to receive advice on-site. It also underscores the bank’s growth ambitions on the continent.

The outlook for Mexico’s economy is promising. Together with Brazil, Mexico continues to be one of the key growth drivers in Latin America. The country’s overall GDP growth is expected to be higher than for the Latin America and Caribbean regions. According to Credit Suisse’s Global Wealth Report, 20 percent of people

The global economy remains robust. Nevertheless, the Fed is still the only major central bank that is tightening its monetary policy.

The world economy looks to be in very robust shape in the current quarter too; after a significant recovery in the last six months, however, global business confidence has stabilized at a high level. Headline inflation in many economies is likely to have peaked in the first quarter and should ease slightly over the coming months given that energy input prices are rising more slowly year-on-year.
More Than One Rate Hike Likely
The slow growth in US gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter once again confirmed the discrepancy between subdued "hard" economic data, on the one hand, and consistently strong sentiment indicators in the US since the start of the year, on the other. Therefore, we have good reason to assume that GDP growth accelerated in the second quarter, particularly given the fact that sluggish private consumption growth in the first quarter contrasted with robust labor market data and strong consumer confidence.
The US central bank (Fed) has already indicated that it considers the weakness in growth to be temporary.

Five long-term themes expected to provide attractive investment opportunities in the years ahead. 

When Alfred Escher, the founding father of Credit Suisse, started his business, he spotted upcoming big trends – railways and industrialization – and did his best to enable investors to reap returns. Though a lot has changed since Escher’s time, infrastructure such as railroads still classifies as a popular investment opportunity.

Meanwhile, new alternatives are opening up as a result of societal change and gaining popularity. Escher’s legacy inspires to keep up with the latest trends to find the best investment solutions. A thematic investment approach, for instance, depends less on the daily ups and downs of the financial markets, but rather seeks to profit from the predictability and sustainability of multi-year trends.
Investors are turning to thematic investments to benefit from long-term societal trends such as demographics, socioeconomic trends and scientific progress. Bearing this in mind, Credit Suisse experts have identified five major themes expected to provide attractive investment opportunities in the years ahead.

Chinese consumers are shifting their pattern of spending to discretionary items. They are spending less on housing and food, but more on travel and entertainment compared to other emerging markets.

Observing monthly spending by category, the CSRI analysts find that Chinese consumers are spending more on such goods and services as education, cars, property and mobile phones. Meanwhile spending momentum in many staple categories such as dairy, cosmetics, carbonated drinks, spirits and beer is softening.
More specifically, China has seen a rapid acceleration in entertainment spending relative to the more stable trend in expenditure on food. Food spending now makes up 17 percent of respondents’ monthly income versus 19 percent in 2011. Travel and entertainment expenses now represent 11 percent of their monthly income – twice the level recorded in 2011.

This shift in behavior is supported both by higher income and the expectation of higher household income in the next 12 months. With the generation born between 1985 and 1995 reaching their 20s–30s, a relatively affluent young group of China’s future middle class is being shaped.

Helman Sitohang, CEO Asia Pacific, was presented with the Friends of Global Literacy Award by John Wood, founder of the non-profit organization Room to Read at its annual gala event in Singapore. 

Room to Read, an NGO focused on children’s literacy and girls’ education, firmly believes that "world change starts with educated children". Recently, the charity recognized Helman Sitohang, CEO Asia Pacific, for his leadership in the launch of Room to Read’s programs in Indonesia, through its technical assistance model called Room to Read Accelerator. Room to Read Accelerator trains local partners in its effective programmatic model and builds their capacity to deliver these programs effectively.
24 New Libraries Thanks to Room to Read Accelerator
In 2014, Helman took the lead in convening a consortium of foundations, corporations and individuals to support and kick-start Room to Read Accelerator – a two-year project aimed at setting up school libraries and publishing children’s books in the local language. The initiative was undertaken in cooperation with five local NGOs and two private sector publishers.

Our new brochure illustrates how Credit Suisse has been committed to Switzerland in a variety of ways for 161 years. 

Switzerland is a model of economic, political and social success. The new Credit Suisse (Switzerland) Ltd., a subsidiary of Credit Suisse, demonstrates our strong commitment to our home market and understanding of Switzerland and its strengths.
The new edition of the brochure "Switzerland and Credit Suisse" summarizes this strong bond in figures. It is also available at Credit Suisse branches.

France chooses the centrist path forward. With Emmanuel Macron, the French have elected an outspoken defender of European integration. The result is positive for both Europe and markets.

French voters have elected Emmanuel Macron as their next president. With more than 65 percent of the vote, Mr. Macron has been given a solid mandate to govern once he moves into the Elysée. Despite considerable momentum of candidates at the far end of the political spectrum, first and foremost the National Front’s Marine Le Pen, France has ultimately chosen a centrist candidate to lead it forward. 
Yet, the considerable number of votes for Marine Le Pen (slightly less than 35 percent) is a sign that a large number of French voters want a very different approach to politics, and this may well hang over the new President. Voter turnout was lower than for the first round of elections and was also lower than in previous elections. It is noteworthy that there was a significant amount of empty ballots as well. 
Strengthening the Key Franco-German Alliance 
Emmanuel Macron is an outspoken defender of the European project, a believer in France’s place in the European Union and Eurozone.

Credit Suisse has conducted a survey of nearly 200 Swiss pension funds. The greatest challenge named by participants continues to be the prevailing low interest rate environment. Demographic change and an excessive minimum conversion rate also rank among the main concerns of pension funds. 

In their new study, "Swiss Pension Fund Survey – Low Interest Rates and Demographics as Central Challenges," the economists and strategic advisors for institutional clients of Credit Suisse take a closer look at employee benefits insurance. The study is based on a survey conducted in October/November 2016, in which nearly 200 pension fund managers participated. As was previously the case in Credit Suisse pension fund surveys in 2011 and 2014, the most frequently mentioned challenge was the prevailing low interest rate environment. 93 percent of survey participants indicated that this was one of the three most important problems, and more than half described it as their greatest challenge. For just under 60 percent, the three main concerns also included the minimum conversion rate and demographic change.