Tag Archives: 3.) Swissinfo Business and Economy

It is estimated that about a third of the oil traded globally is bought and sold in Switzerland. Keystone/Sergey Ponomarev Switzerland will decide case by case whether to curtail traders’ purchases from Russia’s state-controlled companies under European Union sanctions. The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) which is in charge sanctions confirmed the Swiss policy to follow in principle the EU measures, which aim to limit commodity deals to those deemed...

Students and expanding companies are demanding more blockchain courses at Swiss universities. © Keystone / Christian Beutler The rapidly expanding Swiss blockchain industry is facing growing pains: a limited supply of qualified workers to fill the expanding number of job vacancies. Universities are stepping up to meet the challenge by designing new courses around blockchain and decentralised finance. Blockchain is the digital system that powers bitcoin and other...

Nuclear plants fell short by 19.4% because of maintenance work carried out at the Leibstadt plant over several months. © Keystone / Alexandra Wey The Alpine nation consumed 2.4 million kilowatt hours (kWh) more electricity in 2021, equivalent to the annual consumption of 479,800 households. “In addition to the pandemic-related ‘compensatory effects’ in the second quarter, general economic development, the weather and population development increased consumption in...

A few years ago, during a bitcoin price rally, a colleague relayed a story about her husband attending a university lecture. He noticed several students glued to their smartphones. Peering over a few shoulders he saw they were more focused on crypto profits than the lecture. Roll on five years and bitcoin has now become the central subject of lectures in several Swiss universities. A study by blockchain start-up incubation company CV VC and PwC has identified 20...

New rules of the game have consequences be they sanctions, laws, court rulings or even public opinion. The stakes have never been as high for multinationals when it comes to doing the right thing. The war in Ukraine has tested the moral compass of big firms worldwide. Sanctions against Russia came with little notice along with heavy penalties for those who don’t toe the line. Low profile industries can suddenly no longer operate under the radar. Take Swiss steel...

Switzerland’s electricity supply to end-users is secured by more than 600 companies. Suppliers range from small regional utilities to international energy groups. Most of them are public sector entities. © Keystone/Gaetan Bally The government has decided to prepare a bail-out plan for Switzerland’s main electricity companies to prevent an energy shortage. The aim is to ensure financial liquidity for companies trading energy on an international scale and to avoid an...

The Covid-19 pandemic has failed to rattle the Swiss property market. Prices for apartment buildings have hit a record high. But now the war in Ukraine and rising interest rates threaten to turn the tide. The Swiss real estate market recorded a bumper year in 2021. The total return, comprising rental income and value changes on properties, was higher for real estate investors than it had been in seven years. Prices have been heading in just one direction – up – for...

Western companies should end their business relations with Russia. It is their moral duty to contribute to peace-making by their actions, says a group of business ethicists in Switzerland and Austria. Some large corporations are currently breaking off economic relations with Russia, removing Russian products from their product ranges, and closing their production facilities or branches in the country. Among these are Ikea, Apple, all the major credit-card...

Vincenz is a former Swiss ‘banker of the year’. © Keystone/Michael Buholzer A Swiss court has sentenced former Raiffeisen bank chief Pierin Vincenz to almost four years in prison for fraud, forgery of documents and criminal mismanagement. Judges on Wednesday handed down a jail sentence of 43 months as well as a suspended fine of CHF840,000 ($899,858). Vincenz was also ordered to refund CHF236,000. He was accused of making millions through illicit deals while he was...

Switzerland has ambitious greenhouse gas reduction plans but has yet to implement a concrete plan to realise them. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally Switzerland has narrowly missed its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 despite coronavirus lockdowns and an unusually warm winter. The Alpine state had set itself the target of reducing harmful emissions by 20% compared to 1990 levels. The actual reduction was 19%, the Federal Office for the Environment said on...