Tag Archives: 3) Swiss Markets and News

The GoldenPass Express direct line now allows passengers to travel from Montreux on Lake Geneva to Interlaken in the Bernese Oberland without changing trains. © Keystone / Peter Klaunzer Swiss Federal Railways has launched a new timetable, which offers more regional services and direct links between eastern and western Switzerland, and additional connections to popular tourist regions. From Sunday, trains run every two hours directly between Romanshorn, in canton...

Parliamentarians were split on how to divide the tax revenues © Keystone / Ti-press / Alessandro Crinari Switzerland’s 26 cantons will receive 75% of the additional revenue from the minimum taxation of large companies, the government 25%. On Tuesday the House of Representatives agreed with the Senate on the proposal to tax all companies with a turnover of more than €750 million (CHF740 million) at 15%, in line with a reform decided by the OECD and the G20. This...

Around half of retired taxpayers have gross assets of more than CHF300,000 Keystone / Stephan Scheuer Many retirees in Switzerland can continue to put money aside, with a majority also willing to bequeath the money they have saved. Specifically, 34% of the people surveyed in Switzerland aged 65 and over are building up assets instead of reducing them, according to a Swiss Life survey published on Wednesday. Some 44% said they spent about as much as they receive. The...

Credit Suisse Chairman Axel Lehmann expects 2023 and 2024 to be years of transformation for the bank as it seeks to stabilise after years of mishaps © Keystone / Michael Buholzer Credit Suisse is “definitely stable”, Chairman Axel Lehmann has told Swiss public television, SRF, adding that the embattled bank had seen a stabilisation in the outflows of client funds. The bank has reported sharp outflows as wealthy clients move assets elsewhere, while the bank...

Swiss ski resorts are considering reducing the speed of ski lifts among various measures aimed at helping save energy this winter. © Keystone/gian Ehrenzeller Swiss ski resorts are gearing up for their biggest winter season since the Covid-19 pandemic. But soaring power prices in the wake of the Ukraine war have resort managers scrambling to find ways to save energy. The first ski slopes opened in the Swiss Alps in early November thanks to fresh snow in...

Pure online brands are among the biggest winners this year © Keystone / Christian Beutler Online media replaced television as the most influential media genre in Switzerland for the first time in 2021, according to a study. Large brands such as 20 Minuten and Swiss public radio and television, SRF, lost influence in favour of smaller titles. In terms of importance for opinion-forming, print titles slipped to the bottom of the ranking, even behind radio and social...

A federal initiative aimed at subsidising health insurance premiums once they exceed 10% of disposable income met with resistance in Bern this week, reported RTS. Photo by Negative Space on Pexels.comThe idea, which was put forward by the Socialist Party, would require the federal government to foot two thirds of the bill for the subsidy with cantons left to find the remaining third. First the plan was rejected by the Federal Council on the grounds that some cantons...

Every three months the rate of interest used to set the rents in Switzerland is reviewed. If it goes down some renters have the right to request a decrease in rent. If it goes up landlords can push up rents. This time the rate remained at 1.25%, however it looks set to rise next year. The interest rate used to set the reference rate is the average rate on Swiss mortgage loans outstanding at 30 September 2022. The average rate was 1.18%, up from 1.17% from the second...

© Robert Buchel | Dreamstime.com On 2 December 2022, Switzerland’s Federal Council agreed to boost the salaries of those working for the federal government by 2.5% in 2023. Inflation, which was 3% at the end of November 2022, has fuelled demands for higher pay. During negotiations, staff representatives pushed for a pay deal that fully made up for inflation. However, finance minister Ueli Maurer pointed out that Switzerland’s already negative budget should be...

Credit Suisse shares fell to a fresh record low on Thursday © Keystone / Michael Buholzer Swiss bank Credit Suisse is looking for ways to accelerate cost cuts announced just weeks ago as client outflows and a slowdown in activity weigh on its revenue outlook, according to three people with knowledge of the talks. The cost savings are likely to involve more job cuts than previously announced for the first wave of reductions, including in its mainstay wealth...