Tag Archives: 3) Swiss Markets and News

The cost of energy is a less important factor for the Swiss consumer price index than in other countries. Keystone/Alessandro Della Bella Consumer prices in Switzerland increased by 0.6% on average last year, according to the Federal Statistics Office. The rise is due in particular to higher prices for petroleum products and for housing rentals. In contrast, prices for international package holidays and medicines decreased, the officeExternal link said on Tuesday....

Planes belonging to SWISS and Helvetic Airways at Zurich Airport last month Keystone / Michael Buholzer The Covid pandemic has hit Zurich Airport, one of the biggest employers in the region, hard. But CEO Stephan Widrig says there are sufficient financial resources to get through the crisis, including the Omicron variant. “We don’t need any state aid even in a difficult 2022, apart from the short-time work compensation,” Widrig told newspaper Blick in an...

The Swiss watch industry has retained staff in 2021 Keystone / Martin Ruetschi The annual census of the Swiss watch industry labour force found that partial unemployment helped the industry weather the pandemic over the last year. The number of employees in the industry remained stable in 2021 while the share of high skilled staff increased. There are just under 60,000 people working in the watchmaking industry in Switzerland, which is less than a 1% decrease from...

Stöckli is one of Switzerland’s oldest ski manufacturers. swissinfo.ch / Dominique Soguel-dit-Picard Shortages of raw materials and logistics bottlenecks have made 2021 a tough year for Swiss manufacturers, and contributed to a downgrade in the government’s GDP growth forecast for the economy next year. Swissinfo.ch’s India specialist covers a wide range of issues from bilateral relations to Bollywood. He also knows a thing or two about Swiss watchmaking and is...

Switzerland’s second largest bank is now bracing for several class-action lawsuits from clients, experts say. Keystone/Urs Flüeler The Credit Suisse bank has fired the managers overseeing a multi-billion-dollar fund strategy linked to the now-defunct Greensill Capital. Switzerland’s second largest bank was forced to freeze and wind down a $10 billion (CHF9.2 billion) fund range amid huge financial losses. The Zurich-based bank dismissed former head of asset...

© David Johnson | Dreamstime.com On 17 December 2021, Switzerland’s Federal Council put forward a plan to tax the liquids used for e-cigarettes, reported RTS. The Federal Council is proposing a tax similar to the tax on tobacco but at a lower rate in line with e-cigarettes’ lower toxicity. The government does not want to discourage tobacco smokers from transitioning to e-cigarettes and proposes a rate 77% lower than the tax on tobacco cigarettes. The aim is to...

Central banks have come to the fore in recent years by printing money to keep economies afloat. Keystone / Lm Otero Every other month, the world’s most influential central bank governors gather in Basel to swap notes, reinforce personal ties and untangle the technical details of keeping money flowing around the world. Since the financial crisis of 2007-2008, central banks have emerged from dull obscurity to print trillions in multiple currencies. The pandemic has...

According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the hacking and insider trading scheme made a total of $82 million from 2018 through 2020. Keystone / Anonymous The Russian businessman extradited from Switzerland to the United States and four other Russians have been charged with carrying out a $82-million (CHF75 million) insider trading scheme using data stolen during hacks of US computer networks. US federal prosecutors in Boston announcedExternal link on...

The World Economic Forum has been forced to roll up its plans once again. Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott The Covid-19 pandemic has severely disrupted plans to hold the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) main annual meeting in Davos for a second year in a row. On Monday, WEF said it would defer the gathering of influential global business and political heads from the planned date in January to an undefined time in early summer. WEF organisers said the spread of the Omicron...

UBS maintains that the evidence presented in court was insufficient to show guilt. Keystone / Sebastian Gollnow Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS, says it will once again appeal a fine handed out by a French court for tax evasion offences. On December 13, a Paris appeal court confirmed a previous ruling that UBS was criminally guilty of assisting French tax evaders but reduced the penalty from €4.5 billion (CHF4.7 billion) to €1.8 billionExternal link. The bank, which...