Tag Archives: 3) Swiss Markets and News

Just 16% of Swiss would immediately get vaccinated against coronavirus, according to a recent survey Keystone Faced with considerable public scepticism towards a Covid-19 vaccine, the Federal Office of Public Health is preparing an information campaign about vaccinations. However, the country’s top hospital hygienist thinks offering incentives is a better way to make people get a jab. Just 16% of Swiss would immediately get vaccinated against coronavirus, according...

A proposal to make Swiss-based multinationals accountable for their business practices abroad is tabled for a nationwide vote on November 29. An initiative aimed at restricting investments in the arms industry is the second issue on the ballot sheet. The political left is trying to push through amendments to the Swiss constitution to impose sustainable standards on Swiss companies and institutions, which has triggered opposition from the political right and the...

This kind of vehicle will be used to transport goods under Central Switzerland (computer-generated illustration). Keystone Building a 500-km tunnel network to transport goods under Central Switzerland is the ambitious aim of the “Cargo Sous Terrain” project. The vision has moved closer to reality since the Swiss government brought forward enabling legislation last month. In the not-too-distant future, part of the goods now transported by road or rail between Geneva...

A sculpture made from electronic components by the artist Muharrem Batman for the 2018 “Artificial Intelligence and Robotics” exhibition at the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum, a computer museum in Paderborn, Germany. Keystone / Guido Kirchner Artificial intelligence (AI) is gaining ground in our societies, posing a threat to jobs and increasingly invading our private lives. A new centre for AI research at the federal technology institute ETH Zurich wants to put people at...

© Alessandro Melis | Dreamstime.com Switzerland’s federal government has increased the amount of money earmarked for SARS-CoV-2 vaccines by CHF 100 million, bringing the total to CHF 400 million. The announcement came as preliminary trials of a vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech found it to be more than 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 in participants without evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection. Switzerland had already set aside money to buy 4.5 million...

Deaths because of and with Covid19 Over the 7 days to 13 November 2020, Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) reported 553 deaths among laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 cases, bringing the death toll to 1,229 since summer and 2,960 since the beginning of the year. The 553 reported deaths this week represent 19% of the total so far, making the last 7 days the deadliest 7-day period since the virus arrived in Switzerland. There are currently 3,945 Covid-19...

© Lauvergnat Laurent | Dreamstime.com Public worker absenteeism in Geneva costs at least CHF 285 million, according to Heidi.news, which calculated the sum based on information contained in an internal document. According to the news service the cost of absenteeism, which continues to rise, is equivalent to 11% of the 2.54 billion spent public sector workers’ salaries in 2019 and 3% of the canton’s total public sector spending that year. This is the first time that...

Switzerland is home to the headquarters of several world leaders in raw materials, such as Glencore, based in the canton of Zug. Keystone / Alessandro Della Bella Home to big players in the raw materials, food and chemicals industries, Switzerland boasts one of the world’s highest concentrations of multinational headquarters. Multinationals play an important role in the Swiss economy, providing both jobs and tax revenues. In 2018, the Federal Statistical Office found...

The Swiss Bankers Association said it regretted Raiffeisen’s decision Keystone Raiffeisen, Switzerland’s third-largest banking group, says it will leave the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) at the end of March 2021. It intends to represent its interests independently. “The banking sector and the interests of the various players in the Swiss financial centre have changed considerably in recent years,” Raiffeisen said in a statement on Tuesday. “As part of its group...

Despite concerns about global warning, coal is still being mined and burned all over the world. Keystone / Sascha Steinbach The Swiss financial market invests too much in oil and coal production, according to a review of nearly 200 financial institutions. Some 80% of the banks and asset management firms surveyed by the report have coal mining companies in their investment portfolios. “On average, the Swiss financial centre thus supports additional expansion of...