Tag Archives: 3.) Swissinfo Business and Economy

Credit Suisse is banking on petrodollars from Saudi Arabia to shore up its precarious situation. Keystone / Oliver Berg Swiss bank Credit Suisse has returned to the Middle East to shore up its finances amid mounting losses and a deteriorating balance sheet. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, built up a 5% stake in Switzerland’s second largest bank. Now the Saudi National Bank has accepted...

Switzerland’s budget faces a sizeable deficit despite fewer pandemic costs than expected. Keystone / Gaetan Bally The coronavirus pandemic will have a lighter impact on Swiss state finances than previously feared but will still put the country’s budget in the red, the finance ministry forecasts. Measures to support companies and workers during the pandemic were expected to cost CHF7.4 million ($7.4 billion) during the last forecast in June. But on Wednesday, the...

Credit Suisse is attempting to recover from a catastrophic sequence of business reversals and scandals. © Keystone / Walter Bieri Swiss bank Credit Suisse is shedding thousands of jobs, selling off parts of its business and raising billions in extra capital in a bid to reverse a downward spiral in fortunes. The bank announced on Thursday that it will slim down from a current headcount of 52,000 to 43,000 by the end of 2025. The job cuts will start this year with...

Federal buildings and other infrasructure are to be installed with photovoltaic panels in the next 12 years. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally The Swiss government has pledged to install solar panels on as many federal buildings as possible to help boost the production of energy from renewable sources. On Wednesday, the government said it wants solar energy generation to rise from 13 gigawatt hours to 87 gigawatt hours in Switzerland. To help achieve this target, it has...

Bling on the landscape? Voters in Geneva will be able to have their say on adverts like this © Keystone / Christian Beutler The inhabitants of Vernier, a municipality in Geneva, are set to have their say on banning advertising billboards. A referendum launched against a new law banning this form of communication has collected 2,300 signatures, the co-chairman of the referendum committee, said on Monday. A total of 1,921 valid signatures had been required. Last...

The Swiss government has proposed amending the Tobacco Act to introduce a new tax for electronic cigarettes. Parliament has been asked to back the proposal, which is forecast to bring in around CHF13.8 million ($13.8 million) in extra tax revenues per year. The proposed tax rate for reusable e-cigarettes is CHF0.20 per millilitere of liquid containing nicotine. For single-use e-cigarettes, the government is aiming for CHF1 per millilitre of liquid – regardless...

Credit Suisse is one of Switzerland’s systemically important banks. © Keystone / Christian Beutler Credit Suisse Group and the French financial prosecution office have agreed to settle a tax fraud and money laundering case in France with a €238 million (CH234 million) payment to the state, a French court heard on Monday. The settlement still needs to be approved by the court. If approved, the payment would resolve the investigation led by the France’s financial...

Buying a train ticket with a bicycle will become easier; getting the bike onto the train won’t Keystone / Gaetan Bally Ticket prices for Swiss public transport will remain stable for 2023 for the seventh consecutive year. Only “a few tourist businesses” are planning to adjust their fares for next year, says the SwissPass Alliance. In addition, from December 11, when the new Swiss Federal Railways timetable comes into effect, there will be a customer group specific to...

Parmelin said that before the end of March next year the risk of a shortage was very small © Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott Swiss Economics Minister Guy Parmelin assumes the energy crisis will last several years. It is important, he says, not only to think about the winter, but to do everything to ensure that Switzerland produces more energy – that means more renewable energies and greater efficiency. In 2023 and 2024 Switzerland will still be dependent on oil...

Many people have struggled to make ends meet during the pandemic © Keystone / Christian Beutler A 48-year-old businessman in Geneva has been given a two-year suspended prison sentence for making a fraudulent claim for a Covid loan that was 100 times the correct amount. He was found guilty of fraud and forgery of documents. “You expressly deceived the authorities in connection with the coronavirus pandemic,” the judge at Geneva Criminal Court said on Friday. “Your...