Tag Archives: Swiss Markets and News

To guarantee the smooth roll-out of its new banknote series, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) has bought a struggling paper factory in eastern Switzerland. The takeover of Landqart AG, valued at CHF21.5 million ($21.7 million), is split between the SNB (90%) and the security printing division of Swiss publisher Orell Füssli (10%). + Switzerland is rolling out a new series of banknotes with numerous security features...

Glencore has denied any wrongdoing (Keystone) - Click to enlarge Swiss NGO Public Eye has filed a criminal complaint with the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland against the activities of Swiss commodities giant Glencore in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Office of the Attorney Generalexternal link on Tuesday confirmed receipt of the complaint but said further details were currently not...

Recently published international price comparison numbers show just how expensive life is in Switzerland. © Mike Clegg | Dreamstime The price of a standard basket of items, including food, clothing, accommodation, healthcare, transport, education and other regular expenses, was far higher in Switzerland than in the rest of Europe. In 2016, life in Switzerland was 68% more expensive than the EU average. The only other...

The farm had been placed under strict quarantine since the end of November and 6,000 chickens were euthanised to contain the spread of the virus. (Keystone) - Click to enlarge A poultry farm in southern Switzerland has been given a clean bill of health following a recent outbreak of the virulent Newcastle virus that resulted in thousands of chickens being put down. Veterinarians in canton Ticino confirmed...

The chairman of the Swiss insurance company Helvetia, Pierin Vincenz, has resigned. The Swiss financial regulator, FINMA, is currently investigating his activities during his time in charge of the Raiffeisen bank. In a statementexternal link released on Monday, Helvetia said Vincenz had stepped down with immediate effect. He had been a member of the Helvetia board since 2000 and chairman since October 2015. Vincenz...

Dark clouds loom over Tezos in California courts (Keystone) - Click to enlarge A fourth Tezos lawsuit filed in the United States has called on Californian courts to freeze an estimated $1 billion (CHF990 million) of investor assets sitting in a Swiss-based foundation. Law firm Block & Leviton argues that the recent departure of a Tezos Foundation director and the apparent replacement of the entity’s...

© Martinmark | Dreamstime - Click to enlarge The number of visitors to Switzerland rose 6% this summer, but this headline figure hides some steep rises and falls. From May to October 2017, 11 million people holidayed in Switzerland, 644,000 more than the over same period in 2016. Swiss made up close to half the total (4.9 million), followed by Germans (950k), Americans (663k), Chinese (659k), British (396k), French...

The Panama Papers, leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, revealed that 1,339 Swiss lawyers, financial advisors and other middlemen had set up more than 38,000 offshore entities over the past 40 years (Keystone) - Click to enlarge Switzerland must not go to war on its own against offshore tax havens in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal, the lower chamber of parliament has agreed. It prefers...

Switzerland has a free trade agreement with China since 2014 (Keystone) - Click to enlarge A study commissioned by Switzerland Global Enterprise (SGE) indicates that China is the most attractive export destination for Swiss small and medium enterprises (SMEs). A total of 107 countries were evaluated using a set of 15 criteria that included market size, market potential, export volume and average market...

Bitcoin is increasingly being accepted into the mainstream, but many remain sceptical (Keystone) - Click to enlarge Axel Weber, the board chairman of big bank UBS, has warned of a possible Bitcoin currency crash. With increasing numbers of small investors jumping on the cryptocurrency bandwagon, it is time for regulators to intervene, he says. Bitcoin has surged from $1,000 (CHF9,900) at the start of the...