Tag Archives: 3.) Swiss Business and Economy

Our analysis of what the biggest global companies in Switzerland are up to. This week: corporate funding in politics, diamond billionaire on trial and high hopes for the economy. The siege at the US Capitol has caused Swiss companies to think twice about their associations with political parties in the US. But it isn’t the only place where Swiss companies are being dragged into politics and forced to choose between values and their bottom line. Earlier this week,...

The meltdown has crashed the currency, prompted a sovereign default and doomed at least half the population to poverty, prompting protests. Keystone / Wael Hamzeh The Swiss attorney general’s office has requested legal assistance from Lebanon in the context of a probe into “aggravated money laundering” and possible embezzlement tied to the Lebanese central bank, Reuters reports from Beirut. The probe is looking at money transfers by Lebanon’s Central Bank Governor...

Students use cell phones to carry out online learning amid the Covid-19 pandemic in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, October 20, 2020. Keystone / Hotli Simanjuntak Infectious diseases, extreme weather events and cybersecurity problems pose key threats to society in the next two years, the World Economic Forum (WEF) warns. The Covid-19 pandemic looks set to have a lasting impact in the next ten years. “In 2020 we saw the effects of ignoring preparation and ignoring long-term...

Probably not on the chopping list: UBS headquarters in Zurich. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally The closures will affect 44 of the bank’s 239 branches in the country, mainly smaller ones, UBS confirmed on Tuesday. The bank plans to continue beefing up its online offers. The announcement, which had been rumoured for a few months already, was confirmedExternal link by UBS Switzerland director Axel Lehmann to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper on Tuesday. Lehmann said the...

Swiss restaurants are experiencing a second, and in some cases third shutdown in a year owing to the pandemic. Keystone / Urs Flueeler Half of all hotel and restaurant businesses in Switzerland will go bankrupt by the end of March if they do not receive immediate financial compensation for the effects of coronavirus restrictions, warns the sector’s umbrella organisation. Based on a survey of more than 4,000 of its members, GastroSuisse says 98% of its members need...

The aim of such attacks is usually to force organisations to cease operations or to extort ransom money Keystone / Sascha Steinbach Several security bodies in Switzerland have been targeted by emails that appear to come from official organisations such as banks or the police and contain a password for a zip file. When this file is opened, the computer becomes infected with a trojan called Emotet. The Bern cantonal police force is one institution that has been...

The water on which the power plant floats helps cool the solar panels thus improving their efficiency. Keystone / Valentin Flauraud A floating solar power plant and a transport project using renewable hydrogen are among the winners of the 2021 Watt d’Or prize. Awarded annually by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy since 2007, the goal of the Watt d’Or is to “showcase outstanding products or services in the energy sector”. The 2021 winners, selected from 64 projects,...

Hundreds of small alpine businesses rely on the fund for support. © Keystone / Christian Beutler A Swiss fund that supports small businesses in alpine regions bailed out 100 firms last year that were affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Schweizer Berghilfe (Swiss Mountain Aid) doled out an extra CHF2 million ($2.26 million) to support Covid-hit enterprises. Volunteers put in 15% more hours evaluating and processing the extra demand for financial support, the...

In a bleak year for the car industry, there was one bright spot: an unprecedented rise in the number of alternative propulsion vehicles sold, including electric cars and hybrid models. © Keystone / Martial Trezzini The Swiss automobile industry registered its worst result in over 40 years, as the number of new cars hitting the road in 2020 fell by a quarter compared to the previous year. A total of 236,828 new cars were sold last year, the import association Auto...

Die Initiative gegen die Personenfreizügigkeit verlangt, dass die Schweiz ihre Zuwanderung selbst regelt. Was genau bringen ausländische Arbeitskräfte einem Land? Und welche Risiken sind mit der Zuwanderung verbunden? Die Zuwanderung schadet heute der Schweiz mehr, als dass sie ihr nützt, ist Reiner Eichenberger, Professor für Wirtschaftspolitik an der Universität Freiburg, überzeugt. Die Schweizer Bevölkerung wachse jedes Jahr um etwa ein Prozent. Das bringe noch...