Tag Archives: 3) Swiss Markets and News

View of the main building of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich. IMD ranked Switzerland highly for its university and management education. Switzerland is Europe’s most competitive nation, coming fourth in the annual global ranking of the Lausanne-based IMD business school. The small Alpine nation climbed from fifth to fourth place in the 63-country competitiveness ranking. It was helped by economic...

(Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott) In a comparison of European solar and wind power generation, Switzerland ranks near the bottom. Per year and inhabitant, Switzerland produces 250 kilowatt hours of solar (236kWh) and wind (14kWh) power – the amount needed to power a dishwasher, roughly. This puts Switzerland in 25th place when compared with the 28 European Union nations, according to a study published by the Swiss...

In order to benefit from the free internet service on the trains, travellers must have a mobile phone, download the “FreeSurf SBB” application and have a Swiss SIM card from Salt or Sunrise. - Click to enlarge The Swiss Federal Railways has started testing free mobile internet based on 3G/4G coverage on the main train routes. However, it does not cover all Swiss operators. The state-owned company has started testing...

Chinese spies are on the radar of the Swiss intelligence service. Swiss investigators have broken up a Chinese industrial spying scheme that stole hundreds of sensitive documents from a technology company in Switzerland, reports the SonntagsZeitung newspaper. Prosecutors confirmed that a technician was fined for his part in the affair. The news comes days after the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service had highlighted the...

Two shipments to the US were halted last year because they contained goods that could be used to develop nuclear weapons. (Kcna Via Kns) Federal authorities are stepping up efforts to prevent the sale of Swiss machinery that could be used to develop nuclear weapons. The latest interventions concern direct sales to the US and France. According to reportsexternal link by the German-language newspaper NZZ am Sonntag, the...

Swiss consumers pay a premium to read their favourite titles – unless they go over the border to get a copy. (Keystone / Martin Ruetschi) Swiss consumers pay a “high price island” premium of up to 245% for magazines and clothing compared to prices being charged for the same goods in neighbouring countries. A consumer group study found the price differential to be higher in Italy and France than in Germany. For many...

Swiss banks are generally considered reliable and secure by the public The image of Swiss banks has returned for the first time to pre-financial crisis levels, according to a survey by the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA). Cybercrime remains a concern, however. “The banks’ positive image is the result of a combination of their commercial success and social responsibility, and the respondents’ positive experiences with...

Swiss exports are expected to stagnate this year before recovering in 2020. (Keystone / Steffen Schmidt) The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has revised its growth forecasts for Switzerland downwards for the next two years due to a global economic slowdown. After a strong 2018 (+2.5%), gross domestic product (GDP) growth should slow in 2019 (+1%), the OECD said on Tuesday. This compares...

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...