Tag Archives: Business

Globalisation is not just an economic process but also has social, political and cultural aspects. (Keystone) Switzerland was the most globalised country in the world, according to a 2016 survey by the KOF Swiss Economic Institute. It moved up one place to the top compared with the previous year. The Netherlands, Belgium. Sweden and Britain followed in the next places. The United States are in 23rd place and the...

The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry is the industry’s leading trade association. It has more than 500 members representing more than 90% of all Swiss watch manufacturers. (Keystone) The Swiss watchmaking industry expects a continuing rise in exports next year but is concerned that the United States’ protectionist trade policy could have a negative impact on the sector. Jean-Daniel Pasche, president of the...

Swiss Post has sorted and delivered some 25 million parcels since Black Friday. Swiss Post sorted and delivered a record 1.4 million parcels a day in the week before Christmas, which can be attributed to the continued growth of online shopping. This compares with last year’s record of 1.3 million set on December 19, Swiss Post said on Boxing Day. While the week before Christmas was the peak, there were also a million...

Point of contention: the halal label on this Swiss chocolate (Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) Some consumers in Switzerland and abroad have been questioning the halal label on Toblerone chocolate bars. Although certified as halal in April, it was only this week that a small storm began brewing on social media – with some people calling for boycotts of the chocolate produced by Mondelez in...

Switzerland hosts renowned luxury watch and jewellery companies and is the world leader in the gold refining market. (Keystone) The Swiss branch of the environmental organisation, WWF, has called on Swiss-based watch companies to take more responsibility for ecological and social impacts, notably the use of gold. In its reportexternal link analysing the 15 biggest watch brands, the WWF says its findings are highly...

More and more people in Switzerland are relying on their smartphone to shop, pay and transfer money, although, compared internationally, the Swiss are still cautious. The Global Mobile Consumer Survey 2018external link, published on Wednesday by consultants Deloitte, found that 92% of all adults in Switzerland own at least one smartphone, 5% own only a mobile phone and 3% own neither. Similar trends are seen globally....

Twint is Switzerland’s digital cash. Switzerland’s Competition Commission announced on Tuesday that Apple has agreed to come up with a more competitive technical solution to the benefit of Swiss payment method TWINT. The automatic activation of Apple Pay at payment terminals can interrupt payments made by the TWINT application, noted the commission. “Following the intervention of the COMCO Secretariat, Apple has...

Mario Greco, the Italian boss of Zurich Insurance More than half of Switzerland’s largest companies have non-Swiss bosses. A total of 52% of CEOs from the 50 firms on the SMI Expandedexternal link stock exchange are from abroad, according to a study published on Monday by the recruitment consultancy Heidrick & Strugglesexternal link. A year ago, when the profiles of Swiss executives were evaluated for the first...

A Swiss plane taking off from Zurich British Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling is set to sign an agreement with Switzerland on Monday to ensure air services continue to operate between the two countries after Brexit. Britain is due to leave the European Union on March 29, but uncertainty over how, or even if, Brexit will happen has increased the possibility of the country exiting without a deal on...

Switzerland is not a member of the European Union, but the close ties between the two are governed by over 120 bilateral sectoral accords negotiated since 1992 (Martin Ruetschi/Keystone) The Swiss government says it wants to carry out a public consultation before taking a final position on an “institutional framework” agreement negotiated with the European Union aimed at cementing future ties between Switzerland and its...