Tag Archives: 3.) Swissinfo Business and Economy

Philomena Colatrella has been the chief executive officer of CSS Insurance since 2016. Switzerland has the second-lowest score for female CEOs, the study found.​​​​​​ Fabian Biasio The proportion of women in leading positions at major European companies rose slightly last year but progress is slow, according to a new study that compares 19 countries. Switzerland was ranked near the bottom of the 2021 “Gender Diversity Index”. Female representation at board level in...

All-time record for Swiss Post: it processed more than 200 million parcels last year. Keystone/Laurent Gillieron The state-owned Swiss Post processed a record number of parcels last year, but the downward letter mail continued. Parcel deliveries increased by 9.6% to 202 million in 2021, according to the state-owned company. “This rise is due to the boom in online retail, which has been driven in part by Covid restrictions and working from home,” it said on Tuesday....

Game changer? Baillod’s tourbillon watch has already made waves in the watch community Baillod Entrepreneur Thomas Baillod has just launched a “Swiss Made” tourbillon watch for under CHF5,000 ($5,450), a marketing coup which shows that mid-range watches still have a place in a watch industry increasingly focused on ultra-luxury. Patented in 1801 by Abraham-Louis Breguet, the tourbillon still fascinates lovers of fine mechanical watchmaking. The mechanism, a small...

Credit: Zoonar Gmbh / Alamy Stock Photo The number of new electric cars sold in Switzerland continues to accelerate – even faster than predicted, according to the Touring Club Switzerland (TCS) car association. My specialty is telling stories, and decoding what happens in Switzerland and the world from accumulated data and statistics. An expatriate in Switzerland for several years, I have also worked as a multimedia journalist for the Swiss national broadcaster....

Convicted fraudster Dieter Behring standing outside a Swiss courthouse during his trial in 2016. © Keystone / Ti-press / Pablo Gianinazzi Administrators clearing up a CHF800 million ($877 million) collapsed pyramid scheme have managed to recover just CHF12.7 million from one of Switzerland’s largest fraud cases. Financier Dieter Behring ripped off 1,700 investors between 1998 and 2004External link with a scam that promised oversized financial returns. Instead, it...

Many company executives are attracted by the scenery, high paying jobs and low tax rates offered in Switzerland. © Keystone / Christian Beutler Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer has hinted that cantons might lower income taxes for well-heeled executives as the country braces for the impact of a minimum corporate tax rate. Speaking to the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper, Maurer said cantons are discussing the idea of reducing upper rates for high earners. As in many...

In 2021, global carbon pollution returned almost to 2019 levels, after a drop during the lockdowns of the pandemic year 2020. Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved The production and trade of goods is at the heart of the globalised market and has a significant environmental impact. Yet there was little discussion at COP26 on how to make it more sustainable, the former director of the World Trade Institute (WTI) tells SWI swissinfo.ch. The goods we...

Maurer says it is in Switzerland’s own interest to implement the global tax reform for large multinationals. © Keystone/Anthony Anex The Swiss government has pledged to implement from 2024 the minimum tax rate for large multinational companies under a global tax deal. Under a timetable presented by Finance Minister Ueli Maurer on Thursday, a temporary regulation will ensure the minimum rate of 15% for companies with a turnover of more than €750 million (CHF786...

Major banks, like UBS, are coming under increasing pressure to clean up their investments. Keystone / Ennio Leanza As businesses were gearing up for the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow last year, one of Europe’s larger banks released an update on how it planned to do its bit to combat global warming. Switzerland’s UBS group said it had become a founding member of the new Net Zero Banking Alliance, a UN-convened club of mostly western banks committed to decarbonising...

The Swiss central bank has again profited from its interventions in the foreign exchange markets. © Keystone / Ti-press / Alessandro Crinari The Swiss National Bank (SNB) expects to post a profit of CHF26 billion ($28 billion) for 2021, a windfall made exclusively from its growing foreign currency holdings. The central bank will likely distribute CHF6 billion to the confederation and cantons under the terms of a profit-sharing agreementExternal link that was made...