Tag Archives: 3) Swiss Markets and News

The methanation gas containers at Regio Energie Solothurn (Keystone) Flatulent bacteria, electric vehicles and a supply network for greenhouses are among the winners of this year’s Watt d’Or competitionexternal link organised by the Federal Office of Energy. “What is the link between flatulence and renewable energy?” the energy office asked. “The answer is Archie, the farting archaeobacteria.” Archie picked up the award in the “renewable energy” category, presented...

The SNB made a profit of around CHF40 billion from its foreign currency positions and a valuation gain of CHF6.9 billion on its gold holdings (Keystone) The Swiss National Bank (SNB) expects to post an annual profit of CHF49 billion ($50.29 billion) for 2019, it said on Thursday, citing big gains from foreign bonds and stocks bought to dampen the value of the safe-haven Swiss franc. The profit, following a loss of CHF15 billion in 2018, means the central bank will...

Access to home ownership became more expensive. (© Keystone / Ennio Leanza) Rents in Switzerland fell by an average of 0.5% last year but some regions bucked the trend. Last year was a good one for tenants, according to the Swiss Real Estate Offer Indexexternal link, which was published on Tuesday. December alone saw rents dropping 0.4% on average. The most significant drops were in central Switzerland (-1.7%), the Lake Geneva region (-1.1%) and northwestern...

Swatch CEO Nick Hayek has offered an olive branch to the competition commission. (Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi) Switzerland’s largest watch maker, Swatch, says it will limit the number of movements it makes for the industry in a bid to end a long-running stand-off with the anti-trust regulator. At the end of last year, the Competition Commission (Comco) temporarily suspended deliveries of watch movements from Swatch’s ETA unit to big rivals from January 1, 2020....

© Engdao Wichitpunya | Dreamstime.com Facebook’s plan to launch its digital currency Libra is unlikely to succeed Ueli Maurer, Switzerland’s president, told SRF. Maurer doesn’t think central banks will accept the basket of currencies underpinning the cryptocurrency. “The project, in this form, has thus failed” he said. Plans for the digital currency, which is to be issued and governed by the Geneva-based Libra Association and requires Swiss regulatory approval, have...

The first commercial prototype from Energy Vault is 60 metres tall and will be built next year. (Energy Vault) Stacking blocks of concrete with a crane to store energy and use the force of gravity to keep producing electricity when renewable sources are lacking: simple but revolutionary, the battery solution proposed by the Ticino start-up Energy Vault is attracting investors and customers from around the world.  What do we do when there is no sun or wind? Energy...

© Nuvisage | Dreamstime.com From 1 January 2020, it will be much easier for Switzerland’s 38,000 federal government employees to get paid for working on the train, according to the newspaper Tages-Anzeiger. Until the beginning of this year, working on the train on the way to and from work was only rewarded in exceptional instances and even then it was only partially counted. Now federal government staff only require approval from their immediate manager for the time...

© Lovelyday12 | Dreamstime.com Every year brings changes for business owners and managers. In May 2019, a majority of Swiss voters accepted a package of changes to the way companies are taxed known as The Federal Act on Tax Reform and AHV Financing (TRAF). Many of the changes flowing from this begin on 1 January 2020. 1. Social insurance taxes Swiss social security taxes have several elements. The first three fund old age pensions (AVS/AHV), disability insurance...

© Anders Lundstedt | Dreamstime.com In December last year, the Observatoire statistique transfrontalier published unemployment figures for the French region surrounding Geneva. French unemployment calculations follow the method used by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which include all job seekers, according to Tribune de Genève. Official Swiss numbers only include those registered as unemployed, which is a lower percentage that excludes those who would...

The annual WEF meeting in the Swiss resort of Davos attracts some 3,000 people: global leaders, industry chiefs and bigwigs from the worlds of civil society, religion, technology and the arts. (© Keystone / Laurent Gillieron) The US delegation at the upcoming World Economic Forum (WEF) gathering in Davos will be led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. It is unclear whether President Donald Trump will again attend the annual event. The White House confirmed on...