Tag Archives: 3.) Swissinfo Business and Economy

Swiss ski resorts are considering reducing the speed of ski lifts among various measures aimed at helping save energy this winter. © Keystone/gian Ehrenzeller Swiss ski resorts are gearing up for their biggest winter season since the Covid-19 pandemic. But soaring power prices in the wake of the Ukraine war have resort managers scrambling to find ways to save energy. The first ski slopes opened in the Swiss Alps in early November thanks to fresh snow in...

Pure online brands are among the biggest winners this year © Keystone / Christian Beutler Online media replaced television as the most influential media genre in Switzerland for the first time in 2021, according to a study. Large brands such as 20 Minuten and Swiss public radio and television, SRF, lost influence in favour of smaller titles. In terms of importance for opinion-forming, print titles slipped to the bottom of the ranking, even behind radio and social...

Credit Suisse shares fell to a fresh record low on Thursday © Keystone / Michael Buholzer Swiss bank Credit Suisse is looking for ways to accelerate cost cuts announced just weeks ago as client outflows and a slowdown in activity weigh on its revenue outlook, according to three people with knowledge of the talks. The cost savings are likely to involve more job cuts than previously announced for the first wave of reductions, including in its mainstay wealth...

Swiss builders will receive CHF150 more a month in effective wages from next year © Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi Construction workers and trade unions in Switzerland have reached an agreement in a long-running labour dispute. Builders will receive CHF150 ($158) more a month in effective wages from next year and minimum wages will increase by CHF100 a month. The new national agreement, reached on Monday night “after intensive negotiations”, will take effect on...

The head of Credit Suisse’s Swiss division says that only a few clients are actually closing accounts at the bank. His comments after the troubled bank reported high customer fund withdrawals globally. “Some clients have withdrawn part of their funds, but only very few have actually closed their accounts,”  the CEO of Credit Suisse’s Swiss unit, André Helfenstein, said in an interview published in the SonntagsZeitung and Le Matin Dimanche. “We have only lost...

Skiers in Zermatt will be forking out 5% more for day passes compared to last winter. Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott Some ski lift companies are charging up to 15% more for passes this winter as high energy prices bite, a survey by CH Media shows. Out of 16 destinations surveyed, roughly two out of three will be charging more for ski passes than last winter, the newspaper Schweiz am Wochenende reported. The resorts that have hiked their prices the most are in...

SGS was founded in 1878 to help standardise the trade of goods around the world. Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi The world’s largest goods inspection and testing group SGS will shed 1,500 jobs worldwide in a cost saving drive. The Geneva-based company said on Wednesday that inflation and the Ukraine war are having a negative effect on its business. “The consequences of the war in Ukraine have had a broader effect on our business mix and volumes in certain European...

Dialling back: households would be called on to reduce the heat, if necessary. © Keystone / Martial Trezzini In case of a shortage, households and businesses which heat with piped gas would be asked to lower temperatures to 20°C, the government has said. The contingency scenario agreed by ministers is a slightly modified version of a four-stage plan announced in August, which has since gone through a consultation process involving cantonal authorities and other...

A few days in bed might also help to recover from flu. Keystone / Martin Ruetschi The Swiss health authorities and the manufacturer AstraZeneca are at loggerheads over a nasal spray to vaccinate children and adolescents against influenza. The British-Swedish manufacturer told the Swiss Keystone-SDA agency that it had been asked by the Federal Office of Public Health to introduce its product in Switzerland two years ago. However, the health office had later set...

The role of energy supply is crucial for economic growth in Switzerland according to KOF director Jan-Egbert Sturm. Keystone / Arno Balzarini Economic researcher Jan-Egbert Sturm expects the Swiss economy to stagnate in the next few months. The director of the Swiss Economic Institute (KOF) at Federal Institute ETH Zurich, said Switzerland had been been quite resilient in the current economic environment. “Resilience is based on stable political institutions, a...