Tag Archives: 3.) Swiss Info

Many high street stores have been told to close their doors. (Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott) A CHF42 billion coronavirus financial aid package may not be enough to save firms from extinction, warn business leaders and economists. The state could be saddled with a bill three times higher if the crisis drags on until the end of the year. Earlier this week, the government increased its emergency funding from CHF10 billion to CHF42 billion ($42.6 billion). Some CHF14...

The Swiss healthcare system will be tested over the coming weeks, experts warn. (© Keystone / Gaetan Bally) Three Swiss hospitals have agreed to provide intensive care treatment for six seriously ill coronavirus patients from the neighbouring Alsace region of France. However, experts fear that Switzerland’s health infrastructure will soon be stretched by the rising number of pandemic victims. Two hospitals in Basel and one in Jura, in northwestern Switzerland, said...

The coronavirus has spread to 173 countries as of March 19. (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) The upheaval caused by the coronavirus, Covid-19, is all around us. And I know many are anxious, worried and confused. That’s absolutely natural. We are facing a health threat unlike any other in our lifetimes. Meanwhile, the virus is spreading, the danger is growing, and our health systems, economies and day-to-day lives are being severely tested....

Efforts are underway to provide additional medical devices and beds in intensive care units in Ticino. (Keystone/Alessandro Crinari) The Swiss health authorities have raised alarm over the limited care facilities in one of its regions hardest hit by the coronavirus epidemic. “The situation in Ticino is dramatic,” said Daniel Koch of the Federal Office of Public Health at a news conference on Thursday. He said it was foreseeable that the hospitals in canton Ticino,...

The grounding of the fleets of many airlines is symptomatic of the crisis.  (© Keystone / Christian Beutler) The global banking industry is demanding regulators relax or delay a raft of post-crisis rules on everything from capital and liquidity to accounting and climate change, which they argue are hampering their ability to respond to the coronavirus crisis. Executives have launched the globally co-ordinated push to convince supervisors including the Bank of...

Last week, the Swiss stock exchanges experienced their worst fall since the financial crisis of 2008 (Keystone / Arne Dedert) The coronavirus has laid bare the fragilities and complex dependencies generated by globalisation. American-Swiss professor Suzanne de Treville, a specialist in helping firms relocate their industrial activities to the west, hopes that this crisis will trigger some major soul-searching. Covid-19 is on the verge of bringing the world economy to...

No need of hoarding and panic shopping, the Swiss government has reiterated. (© Keystone/Goran Basic) The Swiss authorities say there are food stocks available to consumers for more than four months to cope with the current coronavirus epidemic. “There is no reason to panic over food,” the government’s delegate for national economic supply,external link Werner Meier, said in an interview published on Wednesday in various newspapers belonging to the CH Media group....

SWISS International Air Lines has been forced to reduce flights to the US and other parts of the world. (© Keystone / Gaetan Bally) A United States ban on travellers from Europe has been condemned as “incomprehensible” by leading Swiss manufacturing association, Swissmem. The Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce has also weighed in, saying firms would seriously suffer if borders remain closed for longer than a month. The US is Switzerland’s second-largest trade...

The Panama Papers leaked by Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca revealed that 1,339 Swiss lawyers, financial advisers and other middlemen had set up more than 38,000 offshore entities over the last 40 years.  (Keystone / Alejandro Bolivar) The Swiss government faces resistance to efforts to tighten anti-money laundering rules that close loopholes for lawyers who act as “advisors” in setting up offshore financial structures. Anti-corruption expert Mark Pieth writes...

Employees at the greatest risk are those who don’t have the luxury to work from home. (Keystone / Matteo Bazzi) Our regular analysis of what the biggest global companies in Switzerland are up to. This week: responsible business in an epidemic, child labour on coffee farms, and Responsible Business debate. What has made multinational companies in Switzerland so successful is exactly what is making them particularly vulnerable in a global epidemic. In the Financial...