Tag Archives: Business

Fewer tourists than usual on the Kappellbrücke, Lucerne. (Keystone / Alexandra Wey) The Swiss hotel industry could lose out on up to half a billion francs in 2020 due to the impact of Covid-19, the boss of the country’s tourism body has said. Martin Nydegger of Switzerland Tourism said on Monday that he expects the virus to account for some 2.1 million fewer overnight stays in Swiss hotels this year compared with 2019, amounting to financial losses of CHF532 million...

Data published this week showed China’s factory activity contracted at its sharpest pace on record in February (Keystone / Xu Changliang) China’s sharp contraction in economic activity over the past month due to the coronavirus epidemic is sending shockwaves across the globe. Switzerland is one of the top ten countries exposed to Chinese supply disruptions, a United Nations report reveals. Over the past month China, which has a central role in global supply chains,...

Red Bull buys about 25% of the sugar produced in Switzerland, resulting in reported savings for the company of up to CHF10 million (© Keystone / Christian Beutler) The makers of sweet products benefit from the federal subsidies paid to sugar beet farmers in Switzerland. The price of sugar in Switzerland has been on the decline for years. As a result, 400 farmers have quit producing it in recent years. Sugar beet producers receive annual subsidies amounting to CHF36...

A worker at the conveyor belt in Nairobi. (zVg) Mr. Green, a recycling subscription service with a social mission, has been a big hit with busy families and businesses in cities in Switzerland. But can it work in Africa? Swiss entrepreneur Keiran Smith had no connection with Kenya before starting Mr. Green Africa. It all started more than a decade ago when four business school students in a shared house in Zurich tried to find a solution for their recycling woes:...

Crypto AG’s encryption machines, sold worldwide, were reportedly bugged to enable spying by the CIA and West Germany.   (Keystone / Alexandra Wey) The Swiss parliament has insisted that it will take control of and merge the ongoing investigations into the Crypto spying affair that has rocked the Alpine nation. On Wednesday, members of the parliamentary control delegation decided to immediately take over the direction of investigation launched by the Federal Council...

Federal Railways has the personal data of some 3.7 million commuters. (SRF-SWI) Swiss Federal Railways is coming under fire for using the personal data of commuters for advertising purposes. The data commissioner and a watchdog group have sounded the alarm bell as the volume of data being harnessed grows. Thanks to the increasing digitisation of its services, the Federal Railways now has customer names, addresses, age, sex, telephone numbers, photos, details of trips...

The SNB’s monetary policy is geared to counteracting upward pressure on the Swiss franc against the Euro.  (© Keystone / Ti-press / Alessandro Crinari) The Swiss National Bank’s negative interest rates, introduced five years ago, are having an increasingly significant economic and social impact. But despite criticism, the SNB does not want to remove them. It considers the measure necessary to stop the Swiss franc appreciating too much. Why were negative interest...

Crypto employee Hans Bühler, left, after being released from an Iranian prison in 1993. He had been accused of spying. (Keystone / Str) The man tasked with investigating the Crypto spying affair for the Swiss government doesn’t have direct access to all the relevant documents. Niklaus Oberholzer, formerly a federal judge, must ask the federal authorities whenever he wants to access sensitive files. The Federal Council (executive branch), which appointed Oberholzer,...

The SDX platform promises to drastically reduce the time it takes to trade assets. (Keystone / Walter Bieri) The Swiss stock exchange is offering strategic partners a stake of up to 30% in its new digital assets trading platform. The SDX digital exchange hopes to launch by the end of this year, trading digital shares, bonds and other assets on a distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform. Project leader Thomas Zeeb told swissinfo.ch that SIX Group, which runs the...

Sergio Ermotti leaves UBS in November after nine years at the helm of the bank. (Keystone / Christian Beutler) Sergio Ermotti arrived at UBS in 2011 during a dark chapter in the history of Switzerland’s largest bank. He will depart in November, nine years later, with a reputation for injecting greater stability but not for stamping out controversy. Ironically, UBS arguably faces some greater challenges than cross-town rival Credit Suisse, where earlier this month...