Tag Archives: 3) Swiss Markets and News

The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry is the industry’s leading trade association. It has more than 500 members representing more than 90% of all Swiss watch manufacturers. (Keystone) The Swiss watchmaking industry expects a continuing rise in exports next year but is concerned that the United States’ protectionist trade policy could have a negative impact on the sector. Jean-Daniel Pasche, president of the...

Swiss Post has sorted and delivered some 25 million parcels since Black Friday. Swiss Post sorted and delivered a record 1.4 million parcels a day in the week before Christmas, which can be attributed to the continued growth of online shopping. This compares with last year’s record of 1.3 million set on December 19, Swiss Post said on Boxing Day. While the week before Christmas was the peak, there were also a million...

Foreign Minister Ignazio CassisCassis says Switzerland can't expect Brussels to more willing to compromise on a framework agreement in the near future. (Keystone) - Click to enlarge Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis has rejected criticism of the results of negotiations with the European Union about a framework accord, encompassing all aspects of political relations between Switzerland and the 28-nation bloc. Cassis said...

Point of contention: the halal label on this Swiss chocolate (Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) Some consumers in Switzerland and abroad have been questioning the halal label on Toblerone chocolate bars. Although certified as halal in April, it was only this week that a small storm began brewing on social media – with some people calling for boycotts of the chocolate produced by Mondelez in...

Switzerland hosts renowned luxury watch and jewellery companies and is the world leader in the gold refining market. (Keystone) The Swiss branch of the environmental organisation, WWF, has called on Swiss-based watch companies to take more responsibility for ecological and social impacts, notably the use of gold. In its reportexternal link analysing the 15 biggest watch brands, the WWF says its findings are highly...

© Melinda Nagy | Dreamstime.com Today, The Federal Council, Switzerland’s executive, announced it has approved a deal safeguarding the rights of Swiss and UK citizens after Brexit. The agreement is part of a package of deals being worked out as part of a plan dubbed “Mind the Gap”. Under the agreement, any UK citizen residing in Switzerland before Brexit will retain all of their existing rights for life. The same will...

© Vadimgozhda | Dreamstime.com Heidi Joos, the managing director of the organisation Avenir 50 plus, and others, plan to launch a referendum aimed at introducing laws against age discrimination in Switzerland. Age discrimination in recruitment is common in Switzerland. Some job search websites allow filtering by age, and job adverts sometimes specify applicants be below a particular age. The initiative aims to provide a...

More and more people in Switzerland are relying on their smartphone to shop, pay and transfer money, although, compared internationally, the Swiss are still cautious. The Global Mobile Consumer Survey 2018external link, published on Wednesday by consultants Deloitte, found that 92% of all adults in Switzerland own at least one smartphone, 5% own only a mobile phone and 3% own neither. Similar trends are seen globally....

Twint is Switzerland’s digital cash. Switzerland’s Competition Commission announced on Tuesday that Apple has agreed to come up with a more competitive technical solution to the benefit of Swiss payment method TWINT. The automatic activation of Apple Pay at payment terminals can interrupt payments made by the TWINT application, noted the commission. “Following the intervention of the COMCO Secretariat, Apple has...

Mario Greco, the Italian boss of Zurich Insurance More than half of Switzerland’s largest companies have non-Swiss bosses. A total of 52% of CEOs from the 50 firms on the SMI Expandedexternal link stock exchange are from abroad, according to a study published on Monday by the recruitment consultancy Heidrick & Strugglesexternal link. A year ago, when the profiles of Swiss executives were evaluated for the first...