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20 Minutes. Residents of German-speaking Switzerland appear to doing less shopping across the border, something that has also been observed in Geneva. © Jochenschneider | Dreamstime.com According to the newspaper the Handelszeitung, Swiss cross-border shopping peaked in 2015 and local customs posts have seen a decline in VAT and duty collected since March. At the border in Kreuzlingen, near Lake Constance, VAT and import duty collected was down 10%. At the Lörrach bei Riehen crossing near...

20 Minutes. Visa quotas for non-EU workers will rise next year. The increased quotas will include 3,000 B-permits and 4,500 L-permits, 1,000 more than this year. These limits are still lower than in 2014, when Swiss politics turned against the free movement of workers from the EU. 2014 quotas of 3,500 B-permits and 5,000 short-term L-permits, were reduced to 2,500 (B) and 4,000 (L), after a referendum to limit immigration was accepted by 50.3% of Swiss voters in February 2014. These lower...

It has never been more important to own gold as part of a diversified portfolio. The form your gold investment takes is just as important as owning it in the first place. ETFs and pooled gold may not be functional in extreme markets and may themselves be subject to systemic risk events. Fifty gram gold bars sit across a one kilo gold bar at bullion dealers Goldcore, in London, U.K., on Thursday, March 11, 2010. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg We are living in extraordinary times...

In Romania, 96.1% of the population owns the home they live in. In Switzerland the percentage is 37.4%. © Dirima | Dreamstime.com Home ownership rates vary significantly across the country. The lowest rates are found in the canton of Basel-City (16.0%) and Geneva (18.3%). Relative to these two cities, home ownership abounds in Valais (57.2%), the highest. Vaud (31.4%), Zurich (28.5%), Bern (39.9%), and Luzern (34.8%) are all in between. In addition, there is a correlation between age and...

    The Education Bubble: Is A Harvard MBA Worth $500,000? Written by Peter Diekmeyer   College students are back at their desks this month facing bleak prospects. With tightening job markets leaving kids with no place else to go, universities continue to jack up fees.   The upshot is growing signs that America is in the midst of an “education bubble,” just as big as those in stock, bond, and real estate markets.   Case in point: four years at Harvard University...

Investec Switzerland. Natalie Obiko Pearson and Katia Dmitrieva, writing for Bloomberg, look at the UBS 2016 Global Real Estate Bubble Index report. While Switzerland’s two main cities, Zurich and Geneva, are not described as having “Bubble risk” they are in the next category: “Overvalued”. Vancouver, London and Stockholm rank as the cities most at risk of a housing bubble after a surge in prices in the past five years, according to a UBS Group AG analysis of 18 financial...

Investec Switzerland. The World Economic Forum named Switzerland the most competitive nation for an eighth straight year as it warned less open trade was threatening economic growth globally.Switzerland was ahead of Singapore and the U.S. in the annual rankings of 138 countries, with Netherlands overtaking Germany to take the fourth spot. © Palinchak | Dreamstime.com The Geneva-based organization used the report to highlight its concern about a gradual decline in openness....

Investec Switzerland. The Swiss Market Index is set to finish the week notably higher, although under-performing global stocks amid optimism that central banks will continue to support equities by keeping interest rates at historic lows and providing markets with additional liquidity. © Winterling | Dreamstime.com Global equities experienced a “relief rally” after crucial central bank policy meetings in Japan and the US indicated that the era of cheap money has further to...

Yesterday the European Commission announced that EU residents should soon be able to make calls and use data without any additional charges while travelling in another EU country. Countries outside the EU, but within the European Economic Area (EEA), including Norway, Iceland, and Switzerland’s neighbour Liechtenstein, will be included in the deal. © Quintanilla | Dreamstime.com Günther H. Oettinger, EU Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society, said: “Today’s draft rules ensure we can...

Investec Switzerland. Julius Baer Group Ltd. said Asia may overtake Europe as its biggest revenue-generating region, as the Swiss wealth manager steps up hiring in Hong Kong and Singapore. “In the next five years, Asia could be the biggest region for us if we grow at double-digit” rates, Chief Executive Officer Boris Collardi said Wednesday in an interview in Singapore. More than half of about 200 new bankers that Julius Baer plans to hire this year will be based in Asia,...