Tag Archives: Swiss Markets and News

Last week, State Councillor Peter Hegglin (PDC/CVP) withdrew his motion demanding Switzerland’s retirement age automatically rise with life expectancy. Retirement-Switzerland_©-Famveldman Dreamstime.com_ - Click to enlarge He argues that Switzerland urgently needs to find a way to ensure the financial health of its pension system and raising the retirement age is the main way to do this. Across most of the OECD...

Last week, work started on a project to construct 1,000 apartments in Geneva. The project known as the Quartier de l’Etang will unfold over an 11 hectare site in Vernier, not far from Geneva airport. The video above shows the commencement ceremony and a computer animation of the completed project. The man behind it, Claude Berda, is a French-Swiss billionaire who started out selling jeans in the corridors of Dauphine...

Switzerland has a system of compulsory health insurance. Residents must choose an insurer and pay. Those who don’t are automatically signed up and sent a bill. © Auremar | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge Other than shopping around, choosing a policy with an excess, a sum that must be covered out of your own pocket before the insurance kicks in, is one of the few ways to reduce your premium. Like much insurance in...

The Shell Eni corporate bribery trial is billed as the biggest in history. (Keystone) - Click to enlarge The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) has blocked various bank accounts in Switzerland regarding an alleged oil bribery scheme linked to Nigeria. Executives from oil giants Shell and Eni are due to stand trial in Milan, Italy, in May. At the request of the Milan public prosecutor, the...

Roger Federer's continued success plays a part in Rolex's image (Keystone) - Click to enlarge Swiss watch brand Rolex has topped a ranking of the world’s most reputable brands for a third year in a row. Rolex beat Danish toy firm Lego for the top spot, while Swiss food manufacturer Nestlé jumped 21 places to rank 33rd. The Reputation Institute compiled the list in its annual Global RepTrack 100external link,...

In October 2017, when Switzerland’s Federal Council announced the government would stand behind Sion’s bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics, it sparked a backlash. South Korean Winter Olympics 2018_© Zhukovsky _ Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge A survey run by Tamedia in February 2018 suggests 59% of the Swiss public are against the bid, according to RTS. The estimated cost to Swiss taxpayers is close to CHF 1 billion....

SWISS currently operates 36 routes from Geneva; it plans to reduce this to 30. (Keystone) - Click to enlarge The CEO of Swiss International Air Lines has said that it is not impossible that the carrier’s Geneva operations be taken over by Eurowings, Lufthansa’s low-cost arm, in 2019. In an interview published in the Agefi newspaper on Monday, Thomas Klühr said he remained “confident” that such a scenario...

Les retraités pourront-ils toujours à l’avenir retirer leur 2e pilier selon les modalités actuellement en vigueur? - Click to enlarge C’est une réforme majeure du 2ème pilier qui a été repoussée sous la Coupole fédérale. Dans le cadre de la modification du régime des prestations complémentaires, le Conseil national a refusé de limiter le retrait de l’avoir vieillesse sous forme de capital. Aujourd’hui, un assuré peut...

Among the world’s most expensive places to fill a shopping cart: Zurich and Geneva Only Singapore is more expensive than Zurich, finds an economic survey that compared the prices of more than 150 grocery items in 133 cities around the world. In fact Zurich tied with Paris for second place, followed by Hong Kong, Oslo, and Geneva – which tied with Seoul for sixth place. The ranking comes from the 2018 Worldwide Cost of...

Despite the name, SWISS is owned by German group Lufthansa. Swiss International Air Lines saw an increase in profitability of almost one-third in 2017, the company has reported. The performance is largely due to more efficient and capacious planes. While total income increased by a more modest 3.2% to CHF4.95 billion ($5.24 billion), pre-tax profits jumped by 31% to CHF561 million. This made the year 2017 one of the...