Tag Archives: 3) Swiss Markets and News

Gunvor was found to have taken no organisational measures to prevent corruption in its business activities (Keystone) The Geneva-based trading company Gunvor has been ordered to pay almost CHF94 million ($94.6 million), including a fine of CHF4 million over bribery in Africa. The commodities trader failed to prevent its employees and agents from bribing public officials between 2008 and 2011 in order to gain access to the petroleum markets in the Republic of Congo...

Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam and chairman Urs Rohner (Keystone) When Tidjane Thiam arrived at the helm of Credit Suisse in the summer of 2015, he was a hero. Plucked from the same role at UK insurer Prudential, where he had doubled the share price in six years, he had big plans to shrink the Swiss group’s investment bank, slash costs, raise fresh capital and expand in Asia. He was one of four high-flying financiers parachuted in to run four of Europe’s biggest...

Swiss Federal Railways is among the companies whose pre-1990s work practices are being questioned in relation to asbestos deaths. Labour unions are demanding a probe of companies’ pre-1990 working conditions in the southern Swiss canton of Ticino, in connection with recent asbestos-linked deaths. They are targeting particularly Swiss Federal Railways and the Swiss accident insurance fund SUVA. There is concern in Ticino over several recent deaths of former employees...

© Katarzyna Bialasiewicz | Dreamstime.com In Switzerland, some married couples pay more tax than unmarried ones, something referred to as the marriage tax penalty. The issue has been doing the rounds of the halls of Switzerland’s government for around 30 years. On 28 February 2016, a vote to change the current system was narrowly rejected by 50.8% of voters. Then in April 2019, the result of this referendum was reversed by the Federal Tribunal, Switzerland’s highest...

© Ppvector | Dreamstime.com Every quarter UBS, a bank, publishes its real estate bubble index, a report that covers real estate prices in 24 cities around the world. In the third quarter of 2019, Munich was listed as the most overvalued housing market in the world. Bubble risk was highest in Munich, Toronto, Hong Kong and Amsterdam. Frankfurt, Vancouver and Paris. London moved out of bubble risk territory while Paris and Frankfurt entered the risk zone for the first...

Solar Impulse 2 – an example of Swiss innovation – © Ryan Fletcher | Dreamstime.com Switzerland made the the top 5, after dropping from 4th to 5th, in this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Competitiveness Index. Switzerland’s decline was largely due to a down weighting of a factor where it is strong, according to WEF’s Saadia Zahidi. The Global Competitive Index measures performance in 114 areas that influence a nation’s productivity. Productivity, a measure...

© Neydtstock | Dreamstime.com In December 2017, the European Union (EU) set up a blacklist and a grey list of tax havens, countries it deemed were being used to help companies and wealthy individuals reduce their tax bills. Switzerland ended up on the grey list. Nations on these lists faced reputational damage and stricter controls on financial transactions with the EU. On 10 October 2019, the European Commission reviewed the lists and removed Switzerland from the...

The liquidity problem affects the UN’s main hubs like the Geneva headquarters, which employs 5,000 permanent staff. (UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré) The United Nations is facing a serious cashflow crisis, as 63 states – including its largest contributor, the United States – have not paid their annual dues. In Geneva, officials at the UN’s European headquarters (UNOG) are considering ways to cut costs, while the host nation looks on anxiously. The statement by UN...

The new train, as seen in a photo taken at Zurich main station from 2018 (© Keystone / Ennio Leanza) All the Swiss Federal Railways’ new Bombardier double-decker trains will have to go in for repairs for certain parts to be replaced, it has emerged. The news of the latest technical problems was broken by Swiss public television SRFexternal link, citing internal documents. At present, 12 out of the 59 Bombardierexternal link trains are in operation on a line between...

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...