Tag Archives: 3) Swiss Markets and News

Won’t go to waste: but plastic in Switzerland is not always so well recycled. Keystone / Urs Flueeler The Federal Audit Office says there needs to be more transparency around the various fees and taxes which fund Switzerland’s recycling system. The auditors wrote on Wednesday that CHF176 million ($192 million) in recycling taxes and fees were collected in 2019: these included state-organised prepaid disposal fees on glass and batteries, and voluntary, private...

SWISS will again operate regular flights to Shanghai from March 3 and boost services to Hong Kong. © Keystone/Christian Beutler Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) says it will resume passenger flights to the Chinese city of Shanghai early next month following an easing of travel restrictions. In a first step, the national flag carrier will schedule one flight a week before increasing the frequency to three flights a week in April. SWISS stopped operating...

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) booked a CHF132 billion ($143 billion) loss in 2022 and suspended profit-sharing transfers to the Confederation and cantons. What does that mean exactly? And how does the SNB fare in international comparison? Last year, the SNB lost more money than ever before. And it is not alone: central banks around the world also recorded heavy losses. As a consequence, money from central banks in many countries ceased to flow to governments. Have...

Illustrative photo taken at the Nestlé Shop in Kemptthal, Switzerland. swissinfo.ch/Dominique Soguel In response to Russia’s war on Ukraine, the Swiss multinational Nestlé announced that it would reduce its range of product in Russia to “essential” goods such as baby milk. But supermarket shelves in Moscow paint a different picture, according to the NZZ. The world’s largest food and beverage company continues to sell and produce a wide range of food products, as well...

© Keystone / Ennio Leanza Switzerland’s largest telecommunications operator, Swisscom, is changing its approach to data disclosure in order better protect its customers. The operator reserves the right, after examination, to “seal” the electronic correspondence (e-mails) of its customers until a court has decided otherwise, the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper reported. To date, the public prosecutor’s office in Switzerland can access the emails of suspects without the...

Keystone / Richard Jones China, Russia, Iran and other countries with dictatorships and strict regimes are increasingly blocking access to the free internet and are using the web to collect data. This guide explains how to avoid online censorship and use the internet safely and anonymously. A Swiss-American journalist mainly covering education, migration and youth issues – plus the occasional story on cheese, given her roots in Switzerland and Wisconsin....

Swiss journalists say they have less freedom to report on the financial sector than counterparts in other countries. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally Swiss journalists could in future receive leaked bank data without fear of criminal prosecution if a parliamentary motion is incorporated in banking secrecy legislation. On Thursday the government supported a proposal from the House of Representatives that the media would be exempt from prosecution if their reporting is...

© Ngampol Thongsai | Dreamstime.com The 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), published on 31 January 2023, shows that most countries are failing to stop corruption. The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories around the world by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, scoring on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). The global average remains unchanged for over a decade at just 43 out of 100. More than two-thirds of countries score below...

Pharmaceutical exports in nominal terms increased by 40% since the Ukraine war began. However, export volume increased only slightly. © Keystone / Christian Beutler Swiss exports of pharmaceuticals to Russia, which are not subject to sanctions, reached a 30-year record last year, buoyed by high prices. Roche, Novartis and the other Swiss pharma companies brought in CHF2.1 billion ($2.3 billion) from the export of pharmaceuticals to Russia in 2022. In 2021 the Swiss...

Reuters The Swiss National Bank (SNB) will make a loss of CHF132 billion in 2022, and distribution of profits to the confederation and the cantons will be suspended. What does this mean for the stability of the SNB and what would happen if it faces another large loss? The SNB still has money. However, not quite as much as at the beginning of last year. Because of last year’s loss, its equity capital has fallen from CHF198 billion to CHF66 billion. In the event of...