Tag Archives: 3) Swiss Markets and News

A worker at the conveyor belt in Nairobi. (zVg) Mr. Green, a recycling subscription service with a social mission, has been a big hit with busy families and businesses in cities in Switzerland. But can it work in Africa? Swiss entrepreneur Keiran Smith had no connection with Kenya before starting Mr. Green Africa. It all started more than a decade ago when four business school students in a shared house in Zurich tried to find a solution for their recycling woes:...

Watches & Wonders Geneva is the former Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) that takes place every year in the Swiss city. (Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi) The organisers of Watches & Wonders Geneva – the former Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) – have cancelled their annual watch fair due to take place from April 25-29, amid fears over the new coronavirus outbreak. The organisers said in a statementexternal link published on...

Federal Railways has the personal data of some 3.7 million commuters. (SRF-SWI) Swiss Federal Railways is coming under fire for using the personal data of commuters for advertising purposes. The data commissioner and a watchdog group have sounded the alarm bell as the volume of data being harnessed grows. Thanks to the increasing digitisation of its services, the Federal Railways now has customer names, addresses, age, sex, telephone numbers, photos, details of trips...

Unions are worried the vote would weaken protection for workers in Switzerland. (Keystone / Peter Klaunzer) Trade unions have come out against the initiative to scrap the freedom of movement agreement with the European Union, saying a “yes” vote would be “an attack on all workers”. Accepting the right-wing proposal would lead to a situation whereby “collective agreements and wage checks would be replaced by an unfettered competition of all against all,” Swiss Trade...

© Wimseyed | Dreamstime.com Swiss Post has said it will no longer accept packages addressed to China, according to Tribune de Genève. Because of the covid-19 virus, airlines have stopped or drastically reduced flights to China. This fall in air traffic has reduced postal service capacity to China by two thirds. Mail can still be sent if it is marked urgent, however delivery times cannot be guaranteed. Denmark, Georgia, Greece, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, Spain and...

The SDX platform promises to drastically reduce the time it takes to trade assets. (Keystone / Walter Bieri) The Swiss stock exchange is offering strategic partners a stake of up to 30% in its new digital assets trading platform. The SDX digital exchange hopes to launch by the end of this year, trading digital shares, bonds and other assets on a distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform. Project leader Thomas Zeeb told swissinfo.ch that SIX Group, which runs the...

Sergio Ermotti leaves UBS in November after nine years at the helm of the bank. (Keystone / Christian Beutler) Sergio Ermotti arrived at UBS in 2011 during a dark chapter in the history of Switzerland’s largest bank. He will depart in November, nine years later, with a reputation for injecting greater stability but not for stamping out controversy. Ironically, UBS arguably faces some greater challenges than cross-town rival Credit Suisse, where earlier this month...

To simplify labelling, many international retailers put recommended retail prices (RRP) for multiple nations on the same label, like the one below. The Swiss retail price premium laid bare. Labels such as these show how much more Swiss customers are being charged compared to customers in other countries. The label above, from an item of clothing sold in Switzerland, shows how much more Swiss customers are charged. The RRP for Switzerland is the highest. The Swiss...

. The Swiss government wants to set aside CHF11.25 billion ($11.43 billion) in development aid for the 2021-2024 period. The governing Federal Council adopted its Strategy for International Cooperation on Wednesday after opening it up for public consultation. It will still have to be approved by parliament. The amount proposed is CHF140 million more than the current aid budget and will cost Swiss taxpayers less than one Swiss franc (CHF0.80) per inhabitant per day....

(KEYSTONE/GAETAN BALLY) The Swiss Federal Court has ruled that cannabis – the legal, low-THC version – should not be subject to the tobacco tax. Responding to the complaints of three cannabis production companies, the court found that there was no legal basis for a 25% tobacco tax on the sales price of cannabis. The tax will be dropped immediately. In Switzerland, cannabis with a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content of less than 1% is legal. It is sold as oil, tea or...