Tag Archives: Editor’s Choice

The bank Raiffeisen has dropped its attempt to reduce minimum deposit requirements for home loans, according to RTS. Last autumn, it unveiled plans to reduce loan deposit requirements. However, last week, the bank announced that FINMA, Switzerland’s financial regulator, was opposed to the idea. Source: Raiffeisen FINMA sets guidelines for mortgage lending in Switzerland which banks follow. Anyone wishing to use mortgage finance to purchase a home must meet three requirements. First, they must...

20 Minutes. Some who move to Switzerland might not be aware that they are almost certainly required to pay one of the world’s highest broadcasting licence fees. An annual Swiss licence costs CHF 451.10 per household. The onus is on you to determine if you are liable, sign up with Billag, a subsidiary of Swisscom, and pay. Just because you haven’t registered doesn’t mean you are OK. Fines for non-compliance run as high as CHF 5,000. © Piotr Wawrzyniuk | Dreamstime.com Billag AG collects around...

In 2014, the average gross annual salary for a full-time male worker in Switzerland was CHF 81,000, CHF 10,000 or 12.5% higher than that of an average woman. But what does this high level difference mean? Inspired by the Swedish statistician Hans Rosling, who passed away recently, I decided to dig deeper to see what was behind this top line pay difference. Hans Rosling had a knack for using statistics to expose bias and our inbuilt tendency to overlook change. He would take numbers from the...

Speaking to Tribune de Genève, Serge Dal Busco, Geneva’s minister of finance, voiced his concerns about last Sunday’s rejection of Switzerland’s planned company tax reform. At the same time he remains optimistic about the chances of a new federal corporate tax reform project. © Cornelius20 | Dreamstime.com His biggest concern is that Bern might backtrack on its promise to help the cantons replace the lost tax revenue created by lowering standard tax rates. Switzerland’s federal...

Switzerland’s federal authorities have issued a trojan warning. A trojan is a malicious computer program designed to hack computers. The trojan is hidden in an email pretending to come from Swisscom, advising of an invoice. The fake invoice contains malware known as Dridex, a piece of software designed to steal banking information. It starts by installing a keyboard listener. The government agency Melani, recommends being careful not to open any documents in the emails, and to make sure that...

Le Matin. The unemployment rate across Switzerland climbed by 0.2% to 3.7% in January, and regional differences were clear. Across French and Italian-speaking cantons the rate averaged 5%, while across the German-speaking cantons it was 3.1%. © Beat Bieler | Dreamstime.com The unemployment rate climbed across Switzerland’s French-speaking cantons with Neuchâtel remaining the worst affected. There the rate climbed 0.3% to 6.6%. Geneva was second, rising 0.2% to 5.7%, followed by Jura, up 0.2%...

Le Matin. The unemployment rate across Switzerland climbed by 0.2% to 3.7% in January, and regional differences were clear. Across French and Italian-speaking cantons the rate averaged 5%, while across the German-speaking cantons it was 3.1%. © Beat Bieler | Dreamstime.com The unemployment rate climbed across Switzerland’s French-speaking cantons with Neuchâtel remaining the worst affected. There the rate climbed 0.3% to 6.6%. Geneva was second, rising 0.2% to 5.7%, followed by Jura, up 0.2%...

20 Minutes. Switzerland could drop daylight savings. Currently, Switzerland’s Federal Council sees no reason to abandon it, however if Switzerland’s neighbours did it would follow, mainly for economic reasons said the Federal council. © Jibmeyer | Dreamstime.com National councilor Yvette Estermann (UDC/SVP), who is fiercely opposed to daylight saving, took the opportunity to point out the negative health consequences of changing the time every six months. The idea of daylight savings was...

Volkswagen shocked the world when it was revealed it was cheating on emissions tests on a grand scale. Now some television makers may be gaming the energy efficiency ratings of some of their televisions, according to the Economist. In their efforts to compete and sell more, some brands decide to cut corners. Sometime transgressions are major, like at Volkswagen. However, much of the time they are minor, perfectly legal...

Volkswagen shocked the world when it was revealed it was cheating on emissions tests on a grand scale. Now some television makers may be gaming the energy efficiency ratings of some of their televisions, according to the Economist. In their efforts to compete and sell more, some brands decide to cut corners. Sometime transgressions are major, like at Volkswagen. However, much of the time they are minor, perfectly legal things, that just make you feel like you have been short changed. A recent...