le News

The number of visitors to Switzerland rose 6% this summer, but this headline figure hides some steep rises and falls. © Martinmark | Dreamstime From May to October 2017, 11 million people holidayed in Switzerland, 644,000 more than the over same period in 2016. Swiss made up close to half the total (4.9 million), followed by Germans (950k), Americans (663k), Chinese (659k), British (396k), French (365k), Indians (263k), Italians (253k), South Koreans (208k), Japanese (182k), Dutch (175k),...

Authord by Alex Tabarrok via MarginalRevolution.com, More than any other country, Switzerland’s ethos is centered around preparing for civilizational collapse. All around Switzerland, for example, one can find thousands of water fountains fed by natural springs. Zurich is famous for its 1200 fountains, some of them quite beautiful and ornate, but it’s the multiple small, simple fountains in every Swiss village that really tell the story. Elegant, yes, but if and when central...

Authored by Christoph Gisiger via Finanz und Wirtschaft, James Grant, Wall Street expert and editor of the renowned investment newsletter «Grant’s Interest Rate Observer», warns of the unseen consequences of super low interest rate and questions the extraordinary actions of the Swiss National Bank. Nearly ten years after the financial crisis, extraordinary monetary policy has become the norm.   The financial markets seem to like it: Stocks are close to record levels and...

A recent OECD study, which looks at retirement, shows the relatively large amount spent on pensioners in Switzerland. © Marian Vejcik | Dreamstime Switzerland consumes 11% of its GDP on retirees, compared to 9% across OECD nations. Despite this high spending, the risk of poverty is higher in Switzerland than across the OECD. According to the organisation, 19% of those over 64 in Switzerland are at risk of poverty, compared to an OECD average of 13%. On average, basic Swiss retirement incomes...

Bitcoin - Plan Your Exit Strategy Now - Maybe With Gold Made money in bitcoin? Well done. Don’t wait until the stampede starts. Here’s what you must do now. by Dominic Frisby in Money Week So there I was on Sunday afternoon, doing what it is one does on a Sunday – very little in my case – and a notification comes up on my phone: “Bitcoin rises over 10% to $11,800”. Bitcoin in USD (1 Year). Source: CoinDesk On a Sunday. When every other market is closed. It’s bad enough that bitcoin is making...

This week EU Finance ministers came out with a list of countries it thinks don’t measure up to its definition of good tax behaviour. © Kevkhiev Yury | Dreamstime There are two categories: blacklist and so-called “grey list”. Black is bad and grey is heading toward good, but not yet there. Switzerland is on the “grey list”. To stay off the list, countries must have fair tax rules, which are defined as not offering preferential measures or arrangements that enable companies to move profits to...

It’s the question lurking in many people’s minds, especially during the frenzy of online Christmas shopping: has my email account been hacked? © Igor Stevanovic | Dreamstime MELANI has got your back – up to a point. The Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance (MELANI), is part of the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service. They have recently come into possession of a database with 21,000 combinations of compromised email usernames and passwords. Intriguingly, the list was supplied...

Many Swiss residents travel to neighbouring eurozone countries for their holidays. These countries are close and Swiss francs go far there. However, to get the most out of a strong currency you need a good exchange rate. © Mohamed Ahmed Soliman | Dreamstime If a Swiss resident presenting euro cash at a checkout in Germany or France was told they couldn’t pay in euros because they live in Switzerland – “I’m sorry sir but you live in Switzerland, you must pay in Swiss francs at our inflated...

Many Swiss residents travel to neighbouring eurozone countries for their holidays. These countries are close and Swiss francs go far there. However, to get the most out of a strong currency you need a good exchange rate. © Mohamed Ahmed Soliman | Dreamstime If a Swiss resident presenting euro cash at a checkout in Germany or France was told they couldn’t pay in euros because they live in Switzerland – “I’m sorry sir but you live in Switzerland, you must pay in Swiss francs at our inflated...

There are two divergent views on the crackdown on corruption by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), which led to the arrest and detention of 200 princes, ministers and former ministers. On one hand, it was a masterstroke which will earn political capital with the Saudi people and catalyse an Arab Spring in which MBS is a modernizing reformer who will liberalise Islam.   On the other, it was nothing other than a cynical and desperate attempt to tighten his grip...