Tag Archives: Business

Central bankers and politicians in many countries have expressed concerns about Libra’s potential impact. Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency poses no threat to central banks or to financial law and order, the head of the Geneva-based Libra Association tells swissinfo.ch. Many regulators, politicians and central banks have reacted with alarm to the proposed new digital payments system. Slated to launch next year, Libra plans to create a reserve of currencies – including...

The French complaint said that the US Department of Justice had described BNP Paribas as Sudan’s de facto central bank because it gave the Sudanese government access to international money markets, and allowed it to pay staff, the military and security forces. Victims of rights abuses in Sudan have filed a legal complaint against the French BNP Paribas bank and its Swiss subsidiary, accusing them of complicity in crimes against humanity, genocide and torture...

The centre of banking activity in Zurich Zurich is a sober and orderly city, so a fierce altercation near the Swiss National Bankexternal link between a banker to the world’s billionaires and a private detective who was trailing him is worthy of John Le Carré. It is all the more lurid that Credit Suisse ordered surveillance of Iqbal Khan after he left abruptly for its rival UBS. Credit Suisse was worried that Mr Khan, who led an expansion of wealth management there,...

Under an agreement reached in Geneva, countries with more than 75,000 tonnes in post imported annually – mainly the US – may apply self-declared new rates for distributing foreign mail from July 2020 I think it’s fair to say many people may not have heard of the Universal Postal Union (UPU). Its unassuming headquarters sits peacefully in a leafy suburb of Bern. It is the only United Nations agency to grace Switzerland’s capital with a presence. In fact, the UPU is...

The canton Zug-based Arab Bank Switzerland joins a growing list of established banks now offering clients access to cryptocurrencies. Arab Bank Switzerland has teamed up with blockchain technology firm Taurus to offer its wealthy clients access to bitcoin and ethereum. The bank joins a growing list of established players joining forces with fintech firms to tap into cryptoassets. The partnership says it will launch a “new range of digital asset services, including...

The luxury goods aisle You might think twice before overcooking a load of steak, chops and sausages on the barbecue: meat costs 2.3 times more in Switzerland than the European Union average. The priciest EU country for meat, Austria, is 1.46 times the average. The Swiss also dig deeper into their pockets than other European residents for other foods, but not as noticeably as with meat, according to latest figuresexternal link from the European Statistical Office,...

Switzerland is ploughing ahead with its plans to become a global crypto leader. Facebook takes on global finance. But its proposed digital currency Libra frightens central banks and regulators. Below the radar, Switzerland launches its own skirmish. Two local crypto-finance pioneers this week became the first to win banking licences. Previously famous for its secretive private banks, the affluent Alpine state is becoming a wheeling and dealing hub for electronic...

Swiss bank customers do not easily change their habits. Swiss banks are turning their attention to providing more digital services for customers, but their progress has been slow. This may have something to do with new technology upstarts struggling to gain significant traction thus far in Switzerland, according to a new study. Once financial technology (fintech) innovation properly takes off in the over-crowded banking sector, the competition may well cause some...

Some two million tonnes of food is thrown away every year in Switzerland. This year’s CHF200,000 ($204,000) J.E. Brandenberger Foundation prize has been awarded to Yvonne Kurzmeyer, founder of the charity organisation Schweizer Tafel. The organisation redistributes over 4,000 tonnes of food a year to underprivileged groups in Switzerland. Kurzmeyer was awarded the prize for her outstanding achievements in the redistribution of surplus resources to benefit those in...

Switzerland need to act to ensure the safety of its drinking water supplies in future. Pollution from agriculture, former industrial sites and landfills is threatening Switzerland’s groundwater reserves, according to a detailed study of water quality. The water quality studyexternal link from the Federal Office for the Environmentexternal link (FOEN), released on Thursday, said groundwater faces the greatest pressures in areas of high farming activity. It stated that...