Tag Archives: Switzerland

For decades, Switzerland had a reputation for bank secrecy that made it the most sought after tax haven for billionaires from around the globe.  But, after more than 80 years of secrecy, a series of bilateral agreements with countries around the world, including America’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), have forced the private-banking industry in Switzerland to embrace an entirely new era of transparency...

15 years ago, Swissair stopped operating. Many of the fleet’s airplanes were grounded at Zurich airport. Staff and passengers could not understand the world, official Switzerland was in a state of shock, and public perceptions of UBS management which was considered to have acted in treacherous ways, started their long descend. The movie: Grounding. Werner Enz looks back in the NZZ.

In Die Volkswirtschaft, Ernst Baltensperger and Peter Kugler summarize the history of the Swiss Franc since the mid 19th century: After 1973, the Swiss Franc has been strong. Swiss Franc yields have been lower than what uncovered interest parity would suggest. Before 1914, the Swiss Franc was weak in the sense that it enjoyed only limited credibility. In periods with fixed exchange rates, Swiss Franc yields typically exceeded yields in French Franc or Sterling. Throughout the 20th...

  U.S. Gold Imports from Switzerland Monthly It seems as if the tide has changed as the U.S. imported a record amount of gold from Switzerland in July.  Normally, the flow of gold from the United States has been heading toward Switzerland.  For example, when the U.S. exported a record 691 metric tons (mt) of gold in 2013, Switzerland received 284 mt, which accounted for 41% of the total.  Compare that to the paltry 3...

Submitted by ‘Kevnice’ via ForeignByNature.com, In April 2012, I returned to Switzerland – my country of birth – to commence a new phase of my adult life. Naturally, one of the first steps to undertake when establishing oneself in a new country is to open a bank account. I went down to the local Raiffeisen bank branch in the village of Aesch, Luzern, where my relatives and ancestors had lived and worked as farmers for...

By Allan Flynn, Guest Post at BullionStar.com Five months have lapsed without decision, since London gold and silver benchmark-rigging class action lawsuits received a cool response in a Manhattan court. Transcripts from April hearings show, in the absence of direct evidence, the claims dissected by a “very skeptical” judge, and criticized by defendants for lack of facts suggesting collusion, among other things. Judge Valerie E. Caproni, former white-collar...

Submitted by Jeff Thomas via InternationalMan.com, We warn regularly of the risk involved in storing wealth in banks. They’ve made the removal of your deposits increasingly difficult in addition to colluding with governments to allow them to legally freeze or confiscate your money. To add insult to injury, they’re creating reporting requirements with regard to the contents of  safe deposit boxes and restricting what...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]An era of slowing growth, falling corporate profits, record debt levels, and currency debauchment has many investors buying gold as a bet against global central banks. Holding that gold outside the banking system, and for some, outside one’s own country, are increasingly popular options. Canada, Switzerland, and four other countries have particularly attractive characteristics.

Submitted by Christoph Gisiger via Finanz und Wirtschaft, Kenneth Rogoff, Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University, postulates to get rid of cash. In his opinion, killing big bills would hamper organized crime and make negative interest more effective. Kenneth Rogoff makes a provocative proposal. One of the most influential economists on the planet, he wants to phase out cash. «Paper currency lies at...

Macroview Stronger-than-forecast growth means the central bank is unlikely to alter monetary policy this month Switzerland: Real GDP Growth Swiss real GDP growth data surprised on the upside in Q2, expanding by 0.6% q-o-q (and 2.5% q-o-q annualised). In addition, growth in the three previous quarters was revised significantly higher. As a result, our GDP growth forecast for growth in Switzerland rises mechanically...