Tag Archives: 3) Swiss Markets and News

© Petrina Calabalic | Dreamstime.com The gross mean household income in Switzerland was CHF 114,984 (US$ 125,000) in 2019, according to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Overall, 40% of households in Switzerland had income over this mean while 60% brought in less. 73% of this income came from working, 23% came from pensions, welfare and household transfers such as alimony, and 4% from investment income. In many places an income this high would offer a life of...

A total of 175,000 stamps will be issued, with 65,000 copies of the most common digital design but just 50 of the rarest SwissPost/Gregor Forster The launch of Swiss Post’s first “crypto” stamp has met with such high demand that the online shop was overwhelmed for several hours. Sales of the “Swiss Crypto Stamp” started at 6am on Thursday. Demand was very high, which had “temporarily led to technical problems on postshop.ch”, the Swiss Post told the AWP news agency....

© Marlon Trottmann _ Dreamstime.com This week, the Federal Council rejected two very different initiatives aimed at changing the state pension system. In common with much of the developed world, Switzerland is facing a large gap between the money required to fund state pensions and the money flowing in to pay for them, a challenge driven by increasing life expectancy, a rise in the number of pensioners as the population ages and the way the system is funded....

An average Swiss household spends more than 14% of its gross income on housing and energy. © Keystone/Christian Beutler The average private household in Switzerland spent about 31% of its income on taxes, social security and health insurance premiums in 2019. That’s 1% up on the previous year, slightly reducing the individual budget and the chances of setting money aside. Latest official figures show that the average gross monthly income was CHF9,582 ($10,301) up...

The way that the Swiss watch television today has changed a bit since the 1960s. akg-images In a little over a year Play Suisse, the streaming service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), has become a major player in the Swiss digital landscape, surpassing platforms like Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video. Critic Max Borg looks at the strengths and weaknesses of Play Suisse and its rivals. To mark the first anniversary of Play Suisse, the SBC, SWI swissinfo.ch’s...

Fabio Canetg The Australian central bank is being attacked by the markets and is losing control over interest rates. Something similar happened to the Swiss National Bank in 2015 with the minimum exchange rate for the euro. But what is behind this? The government should be able to borrow cheaply. That is what the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) promised when the pandemic broke out. It fixed the interest rate on three-year government bonds at 0.1%. Economists call...

Idyllic: Crans-Montana Keystone / Laurent Gillieron During the pandemic, some skiers have been doing just that. But does the romantic vision tally with the reality? It was in May, while hiking along the forest trails and waterfalls of La Tièche, with views towards the snow-dusted peaks of the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc, that fitness coach Jessica Z Christensen decided to spend more time in the Swiss mountains. After a decade of being a digital nomad, the Italian and...

Futuristic architecture sketches from Pascal Häusermann, 1970. Competition in Cannes, private urban atmosphere. Collection Frac Centre-Val de Loire / Donation Pascal Häusermann Swiss architects were swept up in the movement to build bubble houses out of concrete and plastic in the 1960s. While the bubble movement burst decades ago, many of the original structures are still standing to this day. Need more space? Why not just build an extra room on the side of your...

Audemars Piguet is one of four independent brands that dominate the global luxury watch market. Thomas Kern Driven by strong Chinese demand, Swiss watchmaking is recovering after suffering one of its biggest economic shocks in 2020. But the crisis has further widened the gap between the few brands that take the lion’s share of the profits and the rest of the industry. My specialty is telling stories, and decoding what happens in Switzerland and the world from...

This week, the government of the canton of Geneva changed a law to require non residential buildings, with some exceptions, to switch off their lights at night between 1am and 6am. Thursday’s parliamentary vote in favour of the move is expected to cut the canton’s electricity consumption by at least 1%. During parts of winter, Switzerland imports electricity to keep its lights on. In November 2021, Switzerland’s president warned the nation to prepare for electricity...