Tag Archives: 3) Swiss Markets and News

In this episode of our Inside Geneva podcast, we look at the role of the World Trade Organization as it chooses a new leader amid challenging times. Every country has to trade: to sell goods, and to import others that aren’t produced at home. But who makes the rules around trade? Host Imogen Foulkes is joined by former World Trade Organization (WTO) official Peter Ungphakorn, former Reuters correspondent and trade journalist Tom Miles, and analyst Daniel Warner, to...

World leaders have been addressing an online international summit on jobs and Covid-19. Keystone / Sandra Steins A new international platform is to be launched in Geneva to anticipate the effects of societal changes amidst the Covid-19 crisis, Swiss President Simonetta Sommaruga said on Wednesday. Switzerland is supporting this initiative and calls on states to help the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in the face of the current jobs crisis, she added. The new...

In recent years locals in Lucerne have protested against overtourism in their city. © Keystone / Alexandra Wey Some popular travel destinations have enjoyed the break – however temporary – from tourist crowds following Covid-19 restrictions. Others hope the hordes will return soon. Switzerland had not yet opened its border with Italy when its southern neighbour unexpectedly announced that Swiss citizens could enter the country starting on June 3. A day later, Sylvain...

Lekkerland supplied some 2,700 retailers in Switzerland. © Keystone / Christian Beutler A company that supplies Swiss motorway service stations and convenience stores has gone into liquidation after failing to find new investors. Some 144 jobs at Lekkerland Switzerland are now at risk of disappearing by the end of the year. The company on Monday said it was concentrating on finding new suppliers for the 2,700 stores that it currently services. It is also making...

Significant majority of men and women believe women need to be equally involved in long-term financial decisions to achieve true gender equality, yet half of women let their spouses take the lead COVID-19 has worsened inequalities, with women more focused on household duties and men more focused on finances Despite pre-marital intentions, millennial women are most likely to defer financial decisions to their spouses New York, July 6, 2020 – According to UBS Global...

Defining the exact nature of sustainable finance and measuring its performance is an ongoing process. Keystone / Guillaume Horcajuelo The Swiss financial centre wants to take a lead in ethical investing. NGOs, however, fear the banks are more interested in cashing in than saving the planet. One thing everyone agrees on is the need for a universal definition of sustainable finance and measures to oversee the sector. Sustainable finance invests in the environmental,...

Queuing up near Vevey on Lake Geneva. © Keystone / Cyril Zingaro Fuel consumption and emissions limits for new cars in Switzerland missed their target in 2019 for the fourth year in a row. This resulted in sanctions totalling CHF78 million for car importers. Last year, the 314,000 new cars registered in Switzerland spat out CO2 emissions of about 138.1 grams per kilometre, a rise of 0.2% on 2018, the Federal Office for Energy said on Thursday. This means new cars...

© Nora Tarvus | Dreamstime.com Recently published figures show a overall jump of 30.2% in retail sales in May 2020 compared to April 2020. May’s rise of 30.2% follows falls of 6.5% in March and 13.7% in April. However not all retail sectors experienced the same rise in May sales. Food, drink and tobacco sales rose 3.4% and fuel sales were up 6.3% month on month. Clothing and shoe sales were up a whopping 433.5% compared to April. Clothing and shoe sales fell 55.4%...

© Vsg Art Stock Photography And Paintings | Dreamstime.com In 2019, Swiss salaries were on average of 0.9% higher than the year before. A nominal rise of +0.9% combined with low inflation of 0.4% delivered a real boost of 0.5% to someone earning an average salary in Switzerland. This is the first time in two years that the average Swiss salary has grown faster than inflation. In 2017 and 2018 the real average salary fell -0.1% and -0.4% in real terms. Overall, in...

The Novartis offices in Basel, Switzerland. Keystone / Georgios Kefalas Swiss pharma company Novartis will pay $729 million (CHF688 million) to US authorities in an out-of-court settlement over various charges, including that the company bribed doctors to use its drugs. Audrey Strauss, the acting Manhattan US Attorney, said the firm had paid out for “speaking fees, exorbitant meals, and top-shelf alcohol that were nothing more than bribes to get doctors across the...