Tag Archives: 3) Swiss Markets and News

Fabio Canetg completed his doctorate in monetary policy at the University of Bern and the Toulouse School of Economics. Today he is a lecturer at the University of Bern and hosts the monetary policy podcast “Geldcast”. swissinfo.ch For years, central banks have been called upon to do more to combat climate change. Now a new monetary policy instrument is being discussed as a way forward. The climate strike is back: Last week, thousands of people demonstrated in Bern...

Keystone / Urs Flueeler The Credit Suisse Group says it will shrink its investment bank and shift more resources to the wealth management unit. It is part of a restructuring plan intended to draw a line under a tumultuous year in which it was rocked by the Archegos Capital Management and Greensill scandals. The Zurich-based bank is exiting most of its prime services business after the implosion of Archegos and shifting about $3 billion of capital from the investment...

Source: Twitter Over the weekend the owners of a family-run restaurant were taken into police custody for defiantly operating their restaurant in contravention of Switzerland’s Covid rules, reported 20 Minutes. On Saturday 30 October 2021, the police arrested the operators of the Walliserkanne restaurant in Zermatt. Three family members, a mother, father and son were arrested on Saturday morning and taken into custody. The restaurant operators had refused to check...

Two months after paying a $100 million fine in the US for illegal trading operations, cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX is lining up a test for Switzerland’s financial regulator. With a raft of recent legislative amendments, “Crypto Nation” Switzerland is bidding to become a global hub for legally-compliant cryptocurrency activities. Crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX wants to leverage this legal basis to launch a brokerage service. As I’ve said previously, the Swiss...

Switzerland has enough money and technology to drastically reduce emissions and become a leader in international climate negotiations. But it needs to be more ambitious, says Ludwig Luz, president of the Swiss Youth for Climate group. This year’s UN climate conference (COP26) in Glasgow is the most important since COP21 in Paris in 2015. The latest IPCC publicationExternal link offers a dire outlook. Scientists do not contest climate change and the need to act...

© Sergey Timofeev | Dreamstime.com This week, 10,148 new cases of Covid-19 were reported in Switzerland, up 30% from the 7,818 recorded the week before. On a 7-day moving average basis, the number of daily new cases was 1,450. The number entering hospital with Covid-19 was stable. Over the last 7 days, 119 Covid-19 patients were admitted to hospital with Covid-19 compared to 150 during the prior 7 days. This week Covid-19 deaths were up. 31 deaths were recorded over...

© Dreamstime.com Last weekend, several thousand protestors assembled outside the Federal Palace in Bern to voice their opposition to Switzerland’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, reported Tribune de Genève. The protest is likely to be the last one authorised in the city ahead of a vote on 28 November 2021 to reverse laws introduced by the Swiss government to manage the pandemic. According to reports at the scene published in various Swiss newspapers the protest...

© Ginasanders | Dreamstime.com The latest forecast for 2021 shows a deficit of CHF 14.8 billion, down CHF 2.6 billion from an earlier forecast shortfall of CHF 17.4 billion. The deficit is driven mainly by the extraordinary cost of responding to the Covid-19 pandemic. The federal government expects to spend CHF 4.1 billion on vaccines (1.2) and tests (2.5) in 2021. However, the largest share of extra spending is on full and partial unemployment benefits (6.9)....

© Simona Pilolla | Dreamstime.com Recently published figures show the largest fall in male life expectancy in Switzerland since 1944 and the largest since 1962 for women. In 2020, a year marked by Covid-19, life expectancy at birth fell to 81.0 for men and 85.1 for women, a decline of 0.9 and 0.5 years respectively compared with 2019. Such a decline had not been observed since 1944 among men and 1962 among women, according to mortality tables calculated by...

Goods are being delayed in container ports in many parts of the world. Keystone / Neil Hall Four out of five firms surveyed by the Swiss Business Federation (economiesuisse) have complained of problems in getting hold of raw materials and essential parts for their goods. The cost of the worsening supply chain conditions is starting to be passed on to consumers. Some companies are looking into putting staff on shortened hours with economiesuisse warning that the...