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Investec Switzerland. Just a month ago, Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam and Deutsche Bank CEO John Cryan risked, as one hedge fund manager put it, becoming the dead men walking of European banking as they struggled to shore up their firms’ profitability. © Simon Zenger | Dreamstime.com Thursday’s results from Credit Suisse suggest Thiam may escape that fate while Cryan’s effort to revamp the German lender stalls. After a first-quarter loss, the Swiss bank posted a...

Investec Switzerland. The U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union poses a threat to research and development in the pharmaceutical industry, Roche Holding AG Chief Executive Officer Severin Schwan said. © Lucaderoma | Dreamstime.com A departure would mean the country would have to set up its own system for approving drugs for sale, a job now done for bloc members by the European Medicines Agency. That could put U.K. patients at risk of not getting access to medicines as...

Investec Switzerland. The Swiss Market Index is set to finish the week slightly higher as investors digest second quarter earnings reports and central bank policy announcements. © Taina Sohlman | Dreamstime.com Global financial markets showed resilience this week following the failed coup attempt in Turkey over the weekend.  Second quarter earnings proved to be the main drive of sentiment with shares from Europe to the US fluctuating as investors watched earnings releases...

Investec Switzerland. Givaudan SA, the world’s largest flavors and fragrance company, reported first-half profit that beat analyst estimates on increased demand for perfumes. © Ragsac19 | Dreamstime.com Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 13 percent to 638 million francs ($649 million), the Vernier, Switzerland-based company said in a statement on Monday. Analysts had predicted 576 million francs. Sales gained 6.2 percent on a like-for-like...

Investec Switzerland. Novartis AG said profit may fall this year as the Swiss drugmaker increases spending on the heart medicine Entresto and faces declining sales of its best-selling cancer treatment Gleevec. © Lucaderoma | Dreamstime.com Core operating income will either be about the same as 2015 or decline by a percentage in the low single digits at constant exchange rates, Novartis said Tuesday in a statement. Sales will show little change. Novartis is depending on...

Investec Switzerland. Swatch Group AG said first-half profit fell by more than half — the most in at least 15 years — as demand for its watches in Hong Kong, France and Switzerland collapsed. © Radub85 | Dreamstime.com Sales fell about 12 percent, the Biel, Switzerland-based maker of Omega and Tissot timepieces said in an unscheduled statement on preliminary results. Analysts expected a 22 percent drop in net income and a 7 percent revenue decline. The stock fell as much as...

Investec Switzerland. The Swiss Market Index (SMI) is set to finish this week higher tracking equity market gains around the world as investors begin to anticipate a new wave of economic stimulus from central banks. © Michael Flippo | Dreamstime.com Global equity markets rebounded from their post-Brexit losses as expectations of further stimulus gathered pace. Investors now expect the Federal Reserve to be slower in hiking rates and are also anticipating economic boosts...

20 Minutes. Various Swiss unions along with the socialist and green parties have launched an initiative to increase pensions. Their plan, which demands a 10% increase in pension payments, will be put before Swiss voters in a referendum on 25 September 2016. © Anne Barroil | Dreamstime.com The cost of the plan could be as high as CHF 4.1 billion. Those behind the vote propose increasing social security taxes by 0.8% to fund the rise. Pension increases would equate to an extra CHF 2,400 a year...

Investec Switzerland. European insurers, whose profits are being eroded by Mario Draghi’s quantitative-easing program, face a stress-test headache that risks requiring them to set aside more capital, further hurting their ability to make money. © Aaron Kohr | Dreamstime.com The timing of the regulator’s “stress test couldn’t be worse as the results will be rather negative,” said Lutz Roehmeyer, who helps oversee about $12 billion as director of fund management at Landesbank...

Last Thursday, when we reported that Ben Bernanke was to "secretly" meet with Kuroda and Abe this week (he is said to have already met with Japan's central bank head earlier today), we said that "something big was coming" out of Japan which had "helicopter money" on the agenda.  And sure enough, after a dramatic victory for Abe in Japan's upper house elections which gave his party an even greater majority, Abe announced the first hints of helicopter money when Nikkei reported, and Abe...