Tag Archives: 3) Swiss Markets and News

Lac des Toules sits at 1,810 metres above sea level in canton Valais. (Keystone / Valentin Flauraud) A solar panel project which could power over 6,000 households has been launched in a mountain lake in southwestern Switzerland. The Romande Energie companyexternal link unveiled the first part of its floating solar project in Bourg-Saint-Pierre on Wednesday after six years of exploratory work. The installation consists of 2,240 square metres of solar panels sitting on...

The move had been expected (Keystone / Peter Klaunzer) Switzerland has acknowledged the fact that European Union will remove the country from its grey list for tax havens following a reform of the corporate tax system. “Switzerland meets and implements international tax standards. The European Union has acknowledged this…” said a statement,external link released by the State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF), on Thursday. The country, which is a major EU...

Geneva officials are hoping that the Léman Express cross-border rail network, which is due to be inaugurated on December 15, will revolutionise local mobility and commuting (Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi) Commuters in the Geneva region are becoming increasingly disillusioned with private cars and are embracing “multimodal” forms of transport, a survey has found. An in-depth survey of commuter behaviour in the Greater Geneva region – covering canton Geneva, the Nyon...

The new CHF100 banknote was issued on September 12, but it has not gone totally smoothly. (Keystone / Peter Klaunzer) The new CHF100 ($100) banknote, which went into circulation last month, has blocked bank ATMs in half a dozen German-speaking Swiss cantons. Bank machines belonging to the PostFinance bank do not seem to like the new blue CHF100 note, which was officially launched on September 12. “Recently, practically every time I try to withdraw money, the...

The Swiss workforce and labour market get high marks in the index. (© Keystone / Gaetan Bally) Switzerland has slipped down a slot in the annual Global Competitiveness Index from the World Economic Forum (WEF)external link. Having come in fourth in 2018, Switzerland now follows Singapore, the United States, Hong Kong and the Netherlands. The index covers 141 countries. The world economy is not ready for a major slowdown, warns WEF. “Ten years on from the global...

Switzerland is the only country among the 47 members of the Council of Europe which does not have a law governing political party financing. (© Keystone / Gaetan Bally) Switzerland’s biggest firms – mainly banks, pharmaceutical firms and insurance companies – donate at least CHF5 million ($5 million) a year to political parties and candidates, a survey has revealed. The poll of 140 companies by Swiss public radio RTS, published on Tuesdayexternal link, found that one...

Mirjana Spoljaric was appointed Assistant Secretary-General and Assistant Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2018. (Keystone) When Antonio Guterres was elected United Nations Secretary General in 2016, some criticized the decision because they thought a woman should finally be at the helm of the international organisation. To his credit, Guterres has filled many of the UN’s top posts with women including Mirjana Spoljaric –...

Data held by around 7,500 Swiss financial institutions like banks, trusts, and insurers were used to compile the information. (© Keystone / Alessandro Della Valle) In its second-ever data sharing exercise as part of a global automatic exchange of information (AEOI) treaty, Switzerland shared financial account information with 63 partner countries. On Monday, the Swiss Federal Tax Authority revealed that it had provided details of around 3.1 million bank accounts held...

File photo of former Credit Suisse (and UBS) CEO Oswald Grübel, who’s German, by the way (Keystone / Walter Bieri) In an interview with the newspaper NZZ am Sonntag, former Credit Suisse CEO Oswald Grübel has criticized the large Swiss bank for its handling of the current crisis. By maintaining that CEO Tidjane Thiam was unaware of the spying affair, the bank is harming the Swiss financial sector, Grübel said in an interview published on Sunday. Foreign media are...

The Swiss canton of Vaud has managed to balance its 2020 budget with a small surplus of 76,000 francs. This is the 14th time in row that the canton’s budget has been in the black. Vaud’s parliament building At the same time planned spending is up by 2.43%, well ahead of Swiss inflation – prices were lower in September 2019 than they were in September 2018. A tax rate rise is planned and some complain the canton’s taxpayers are getting a raw deal. The canton expects...