Tag Archives: Business

Martin Hess believes Swiss banking fortunes can lift despite ongoing challenges (Keystone) - Click to enlarge The Swiss banking sector shrank once again last year in terms of banks, profits, share of offshore wealth under management and number of employees. The Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) nevertheless believes there are positives to be found amidst the bleak figures. “In an environment where banks have to cope...

The number of cyber-attacks in Switzerland is reportedly on the rise (Keystone) Around 21,000 passwords and personal details used to access online services have been stolen and could be used illegally, Switzerland’s cybercrime monitoring centre has reported. The Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance (MELANI) said on Tuesday that a confidential source had sent copies of the stolen data to the cybercrime...

The growth of diesel-powered cars is stagnating in Switzerland (Keystone) - Click to enlarge Swiss citizens are calling on their government to more quickly require stricter anti-pollution tests for diesel cars. Some 7,200 people submitted a petition to the Federal Chancellery on Tuesday. The petition, also supported by various environmental and consumer lobby groups, asks Swiss Transport Minister Doris Leuthard to...

Alpiq’s hydropower portfolio includes the Grand Dixence, the tallest gravity dam in the world (Keystone) Swiss energy concern Alpiq has changed its mind about selling up to 49% of its hydropower portfolio due to a tough market environment. In March 2016, Alpiq declared that it was planning to sell a large share of its hydropower assets to investors, provoking strong reactions in the power sector and media. Hydropower is...

Swisscom denies it has been defrauding its customers (Keystone) - Click to enlarge The Swiss consumer protection agency says it will file criminal charges against Swisscom for an alleged roaming charge rip-off that is said to have netted the telecommunications giant millions of francs at customers’ expense. Swisscom has flatly rejected the allegation, saying it does not charge customers fictitious foreign...

Philipp Hildebrand was forced out of his post less than two years into his tenure as head of the Swiss central bank (Keystone) Switzerland’s highest court has imposed suspended fines on a local politician and a former bank worker for leaking the personal bank transactions of former Swiss National Bank (SNB) chairman Philipp Hildebrand. The leak forced Hildebrand to resign in 2012. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ended a...

Nearly all (99.6%) of all businesses in Switzerland are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (Keystone) One in four small and medium-sized Swiss firms (SMEs) suffers due to a serious lack of qualified staff, a new Credit Suisse survey reveals. The economic situation in Switzerland is generally favourable to most SMEs, which are slightly more optimistic about the future than they were last year, a Credit Suisse...

Robots are used a lot in industry (Keystone) - Click to enlarge The Swiss Business Federation (economiesuisse) rejects imposing a so-called robot tax on companies to make up for lost income taxes as workers are gradually replaced by machines. Rather than focusing on a robot tax, Switzerland should encourage the development of a faster internet network and cooperation between business and Swiss research institutes,...

At a stormy shareholders meeting in April, Tidjane Thiam, CEO of Switzerland's second biggest bank Credit Suisse, faced a revolt from shareholders over compensation and management bonuses for its top managers despite financial losses (Keystone) - Click to enlarge Shareholder rebellion over executive pay at Credit Suisse earlier this year is just one example of growing dissent by Swiss company owners. While annual...

Payerne Airport officials hope to increase the number of civilian flights from 400 a year to 8,400. (Keystone) After years of negotiations, Payerne’s regional civilian airport and future business aviation hub is starting to take shape. The first stone of an airport building in northwest Switzerland has been laid. “It’s a day of celebration and joy,” Fribourg businessman Damien Piller told reporters at a ceremony to mark...