Tag Archives: 3.) Swissinfo Business and Economy

Credit Suisse has recently been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons Keystone / Peter Klaunzer As Credit Suisse executives finalised an emergency $1.9 billion (CHF1.75 billion) fundraising from investors last week, a group of the bank’s prized super-rich clients from across Europe and Asia were on a separate Zoom call hosted by law firm Boies Schiller Flexner to plot a class-action suit against the lender. The clients had been persuaded by Credit Suisse to...

In in seven employees of Switzerland’s second-biggest telecoms company is set to lose his or her job. © Keystone/Christian Beutler Switzerland’s second biggest telecoms group, Sunrise UPC, says it will cut 600 jobs by the end of 2022, following UPC’s CHF6.8 billion ($7.4 billion) takeover of Sunrise Communications last year. About 450 redundancies are expected, representing 13.5% of the company’s 3,350 full-time posts, Sunrise UPC said in a statement on Monday. About...

Opponents argue that the anti-pesticide initiatives will harm Switzerland’s agriculture sector and undermine the country’s self-sufficiency. Anthony Anex/Keystone The director of the leading Swiss farmers’ organisation is deeply concerned about two initiatives to ban pesticide. Martin Rufer explains what voters’ approval would mean for Switzerland’s agriculture. The two proposals, to come to a nationwide ballot on June 13, are causing heated debates and have not only...

Switzerland may have to find alternative ways to welcome foreign companies to Switzerland. Keystone / Peter Klaunzer The looming shadow of a global minimum corporate tax rate could threaten Switzerland’s status as a hub for multinational company headquarters. The United States says that no country should tax companies less than 21%, a proposal that has added momentum to talks over a worldwide minimum corporate tax rate. The average corporate tax rate among Swiss...

Switzerland has introduced targets and regulations to reduce vehicle C02 emissions. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally A former employee at the Swiss Federal Roads Office (FEDRO) and two board members of a vehicle exporter have been charged with fraudulently manipulating data to avoid CO2 emissions sanctions. The Swiss federal prosecutor’s office said on Monday that the fraud had illegally saved the vehicle exporter from paying CHF9 million ($9.8 million) in financial...

Some Germans appear to have used Migros Bank to hide assets from their home tax authorities. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally Switzerland’s Migros Bank has agreed to pay €2.4 million (CHF2.65 million) to clear up cross-border tax evasion issues with Germany. Migros is one of several Swiss banks that have shelled out a penalty to avoid prosecution in the neighbouring country. Other banks to have made such an arrangement in the past include UBS, Credit Suisse and Julius Bär....

The WEF’s annual get-together of business, political and civil society leaders is planned for January 17-22 Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) is set to take place in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos again next year. However, reasonable hotel rates are a prerequisite and the Covid-19 situation is also a decisive factor, according to organisers. “We want to remain true to tradition and Davos,” WEF spokesman Yann Zopf...

Major infrastructure building projects abroad are could be an opportunity for Swiss companies to expand their business activities. Keystone/Joerg Sarbach The government has pledged CHF7.8 million ($8.5 million) over the next three years to help Swiss companies participate in major infrastructure projects abroad. The aim is to coordinate cooperation between the private sector and the government administration to help Swiss companies gain international visibility and...

Credit Suisse chairman Urs Rohner has some explaining to do at the bank’s AGM later this month. © Keystone / Ennio Leanza Five months before Greensill Capital’s collapse, Credit Suisse invited a special guest to present to its top ranks in Asia. The visitor was hailed as the sort of bold entrepreneur the bank wanted to do business with: Lex Greensill. “The tone was this is the exact kind of client the bank wants, tell the MDs to go out and find more guys like Lex,”...

Out with the old, in with the new? Digital asset trading venues now have to convert promise into performance. Keystone / Justin Lane A blockchain-inspired trading infrastructure, which links banks, companies and investors to cryptocurrencies and a new breed of digital securities, is nearing fruition in Switzerland. On Monday, the Swiss financial regulator gave the green light for the TDX Digital eXchange by awarding a securities house licence to technology company...