Tag Archives: Business

The blockchain sector started in Zug’s Crypto Valley (represented here with a chart of companies), but has spread to other areas of Switzerland. © Keystone / Urs Flueeler The Swiss blockchain industry appears to be in rude health despite the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. The number of new companies and jobs produced by the sector increased in the first six months of the year. Is this trend set to last? The number of Crypto Nation (including...

The gentle ridges of the Jura mountain range are suitable for the installation of wind turbines (here the Mont-Crosin park, in the Bernese Jura), but most projects are now at a standstill. © Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott For a decade, wind energy in Switzerland has been stalled. Opponents have used every possible means to stop projects. At the end of September, one community will vote on the future of this kind of energy. Power derived from wind is already...

Switzerland’s second largest bank is replacing bricks and mortar with digital. Credit Suisse Credit Suisse is taking on so-called challenger banks with a new digital service for customers, including a debit card with no foreign transaction fees. The bank is closing down branches across Switzerland and is converting others into a “digital bar” concept. Switzerland’s second largest bank unveiled its new CSX banking app on Thursday with specific features aimed towards...

Many employees were put on short time work during the lockdown as companies were hit by the pandemic. Keystone / Magali Girardin Government credits and employment support measures have helped stave off a wave of bankruptcies, but they could rise over the longer term, says a survey. Between January and August 2020, which includes the lockdown period, 2,800 firms in Switzerland declared bankruptcy. This is actually 621 fewer than in the same period last year, says the...

Simply buying bitcoin does not require a law change but legislation needs to keep up with a host of blockchain developments in finance and the way companies operate. © Keystone / Christian Beutler Bitcoin used to be something of a dirty word, associated with crime and money laundering. Switzerland has now amended its legal code to welcome cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology into the mainstream. Parliamentarians in the Senate rapidly passed a wide-ranging set...

Bricks and mortar is being replaced by digital code in the banking sector. © Keystone / Christian Beutler Swiss lender Credit Suisse is set to launch an overhaul of its digital banking offering, as it uses the coronavirus crisis as a springboard to accelerate the push from bricks-and-mortar branches to online services. Last month the bank confirmed plans to close a quarter of its 146 domestic branches by the end of the year. This would lead to SFr100m ($108m) of...

After appointing an auditor last December, FINMA decided to open so-called enforcement proceedings. © Keystone/Lukas Lehmann The Swiss financial supervisor FINMA says it has opened enforcement proceedings against Credit Suisse into the 2019 spying affair that toppled the bank’s leadership and tarnished its reputation. FINMA opened the proceedings after an auditor appointed last December completed its investigation of Credit Suisse, which has acknowledged...

A small section of La Pampa region in Peru being replanted after illegal miners deforested large swaths of the rainforest. Paula Dupraz-Dobias The boom in gold prices during the Covid-19 pandemic has kept Swiss refineries in business but has also boosted illegal mining, imperiling lives and the environment. Increased demand for the safe-haven metal has led gold prices to fluctuate in recent weeks around their highest levels since 2011. Mark Haefele, Chief...

Swissport has been hit hard by the adverse impact of coronavirus on the aviation industry. Keystone / Stephanie Lecocq A consortium of investors has agreed a €800 million (CHF860 million) bailout of Chinese-owned airport services company Swissport. Revenues at the company have nosedived since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. The consortium of US and British private equity firms and banks will buy out the majority stake currently held by Chinese conglomerate...

The Swiss travel and tourism sector has been hard hit by the effects of the coronavirus crisis. Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. German tour operator TUI is to close eight of its 62 branches in Switzerland with the loss of around 70 jobs, owing to the effects of the coronavirus crisis. “We are assuming we will organise around 70% fewer trips than originally planned this summer,” says TUI Switzerland’s managing director Philipp von Czapiewski...