Tag Archives: 3) Swiss Markets and News

The Swiss bank has been fined over CHF400 million for its role in a corruption scandal in Mozambique. Keystone / Ennio Leanza A Mozambique public finance watchdog is demanding an estimated $2 billion (CHF1.8 billion) in full debt relief from Credit Suisse, that is ten times more than what Swiss banking giant is willing to write off. “Credit Suisse’s admission of responsibility, failure to comply with the law (…) and involvement of employees in bribery underscores the...

© minnystock | Dreamstime.com Switzerland is the highest rated country in the latest HSBC expat ranking published this week, a position held for the last three years. 91% of the expats surveyed living in Switzerland said their living environment was better than it was before moving. The average on this measure across all expats questioned was 67%. After moving, 86% said they felt safer, another of Switzerland’s strong points among expats. In addition, nearly 9 out of...

Containers are piling up at ports, ships are waiting to offload cargo and store shelves are sitting empty. Are all the quick fixes enough to fix the real problems in our supply chains? Headlines over the past few weeks about our global supply chain woes are enough to make anyone start stocking up on toilet paper and other essentials (again!). Goods from steel and lumber to toys, bicycles, and semiconductors are all facing delivery delays and higher prices, causing...

PostBus is among the new participants in this initiative to reduce energy consumption and make it renewable. The Swiss Broadcasting company SRF has also joined. Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller Some government departments and 13 other Swiss entities have signed a pact to increase energy efficiency, expand renewable energies and make their investments “climate compatible”. The initiative contributes to implementing Switzerland’s Energy Strategy 2050 and achieving a net...

© Sergey Chuyko | Dreamstime.com Over the weekend, several thousand people took to Swiss streets to protest against Switzerland’s measures to reduce the impact of Covid-19, reported RTS. In Lausanne, between 800 and 1,000 people marched in protest against Covid certificates and restrictions on individual liberty. No violence or property damage was reported. In Lugano, calls from an association named friends of the constitution drew around 400 protestors to the...

An electricity agreement between Switzerland and the European Union has been on hold since 2018. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally The Swiss government has shared its vision for coping with major power outages in a brochure shared with thousands of companies, the weekly NZZ am Sonntag reported on Sunday. In the absence of an electricity agreement with the European Union, such a scenario is likely if large power plants fail in Switzerland or abroad. Swiss companies could be...

The United Kingdom and the European Union are grappling with truck diver shortages that complicate economic recovery amid the coronavirus pandemic. Keystone / Joe Giddens Unlike other Western European nations, Switzerland is not at risk of a supply chain crisis due to a lack of truck drivers, according to the president of a major logistics and transport company. “The situation in Switzerland is significantly better than in the rest of Europe,” Rolf Galliker,...

Swiss private banks increased their assets under management to almost CHF3 trillion last year © Keystone / Gaetan Bally Swiss private banks managed to increase their assets under management to CHF2.9 trillion ($3.15 trillion) last year, an increase of 2.8% on 2019. “The year 2020 was dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic, yet the Swiss private banking sector still got off relatively lightly compared to other industries,” consultancy firm PwC said in its Private Banking...

Under an extreme scenario, Switzerland’s electricity supply could be interrupted for up to 500 hours © Keystone / Gaetan Bally If progress is not made on an electricity agreement with the European Union, at least at a technical level, Switzerland is likely to face a significant problem guaranteeing electricity in the short and medium term, especially in winter. This is the conclusion of an external report on supply security, presented to the government on Wednesday....

© Shutter999 | Dreamstime.com Geo-blocking is the practice of pushing online shoppers to a version of a website based on their geographic location. Many consumers would like to see the practice made illegal and Swiss laws look set to make it so, according to the NZZ am Sonntag, reported Le Matin. Geo-blocking and filtering is particularly pernicious in a place like Switzerland where prices are generally much higher than the rest of Europe. There are broadly two kinds...