Tag Archives: 3) Swiss Markets and News

UBS already implements a zero interest policy for savings accounts with over half a million Swiss francs. (© Keystone / Gaetan Bally) As of June 1, Switzerland’s largest bank will stop paying interest on adult savings accounts. Funds deposited in UBS savings accounts currently earn a rate of 0.01%, just like at Credit Suisse, the other major Swiss bank. Almost all other Swiss banks pay a small interest on saving...

Women, such as Swiss Railways chairwoman Monika Ribar, are still in a minority, but the gap is slowly closing. (© Keystone / Peter Klaunzer) For the first time, all of Switzerland’s top 20 companies have at least one woman in the boardroom. The finding by consultancy firm Russell Reynolds shows the slow but steady progress towards gender equality in the management of Swiss firms. Russell Reynoldsexternal link found that...

Swiss voters largely accepted on Sunday a reform of the corporate tax system that will scrap preferential treatment for multinational firms. The result also means a financial boost for the country’s ailing pension system. Two years after voters rejected a similar idea to overhaul corporate tax rules, the issue – this time linked controversially to pensions – received a clear thumbs-up. Final figures showed 64.4% of...

© Olena Yakobchuk | Dreamstime.com Employees Switzerland, an organisation representing Swiss workers, is resigned to the idea of raising the retirement age, according to Swiss broadcaster RTS. Speaking to the newspaper NZZ am Sonntag, Stefan Studer, director of the association, said raising the retirement age is inevitable because of the financial difficulties facing Switzerland’s state pension system, known as the...

Delegates at the ILO’s annual conference in Geneva last year Employees who are active in trade unions are not sufficiently protected from being sacked in Switzerland, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO). The Geneva-based body has added Switzerland to a blacklist – just before a centenary conference in the Swiss city. The list comprises 40 countries that violate ILO conventions. Together with Greece...

A Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet lands during an assessment at the Swiss Army airbase in Payerne on April 30 The Federal Council has changed its approach to buying new combat aircraft and anti-aircraft missiles. Swiss voters will now be able to have a say only on the fighter jets, on which the government wants to spend no more than CHF6 billion ($5.95 billion). It has asked the defence ministry to present a planning...

Far from retirement age: ministers Keller-Sutter (left) and Berset. (Keystone / Anthony Anex) The government has announced measures to help Swiss-based workers have better access to the job market. Plans to help older people out of a job are also outlined. The measures, outlined on Wednesdayexternal link by interior minister Alain Berset and justice minister Karin Keller-Sutter, are part of efforts to adapt to an ageing...

© Tpibernik | Dreamstime.com Last week, a crowd assembled in Bern outside Switzerland’s federal parliament building to protest the roll out of 5G mobile technology in Switzerland. Switzerland’s “Stop 5G” movement is demanding a halt to further roll out of the technology in Switzerland, a process already well underway. They are demanding a precautionary approach and further research into the health effects. Most...

Bike riders are opting for a little electrical help to ease the strain on their muscles. (© Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller) Unusually warm and dry weather conditions have been credited with boosting bicycle sales last year – with a greater proportion of cyclists opting to ease muscle strain with the assistance of e-bikes in Switzerland’s mountainous terrain. On Tuesday, the cycling enthusiasts group dynaMot added more...

© Rosshelen | Dreamstime.com On average, renting a 4.5 room apartment of 100 to 110 m2 costs CHF 3,820 a month in Geneva. The same apartment in the Swiss city of St. Gallen costs CHF 2,004, 52% of the price, according to a report on rents in Switzerland’s ten main cities by the price comparison website Comparis. For an apartment of this size, Geneva (3,820) is the most expensive, followed by Zurich (3,073), Lausanne...