Next Tuesday a new Swiss note will go into circulation. Fortunately, the new 50 franc note will be the same colour as the current one to avoid confusion at the check-out. Measuring 70 x 137 mm, the new bill is smaller in size than the current 50 franc note of 73 x 149 mm. According […]
Snow returns to Switzerland
20 Minutes. Don’t put your coats and gloves away just yet. Temperatures and the snow line are set to drop significantly by the end of the week. The foehn, a warm wind that blows from the south, lifted Swiss temperatures sharply to close to 25 degrees last Sunday, bringing a taste of summer to western […]
Swiss won’t hoard cash despite smaller bills, SNB’s Jordan says
Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. Swiss National Bank President Thomas Jordan doesn’t expect cash stockpiling even with negative interest rates and a new series of smaller banknotes. “The size has no impact on the cash hoarding,” he said in a Bloomberg Television on Wednesday in Bern after the central bank unveiled a new banknotes […]
Geneva encourages foreigners to become Swiss before rules change
Back in June 2014, the Swiss parliament passed a law which changed the number of years of residence required to qualify for Swiss citizenship, the type of residence permit you must have before applying, and the age band within which one year of residence counts as two. The new law only allows those on permanent […]
Surprisingly, Swiss think the grass is greener in this country
A recent study by Geneva-based Livewhat, asked people from nine european nations what they thought about living conditions in one another’s country on a scale of 0 to 10. A score of 6 or more was considered good. The countries included were: Italy, Greece, UK, Spain, Poland, Germany, France, Sweden and Switzerland. In addition, each group was asked […]
Muslim school pupils’ exemption from handshaking causes a stir in Switzerland
24 Heures. A secondary school in Therwil, not far from Basel, recently exempted two school pupils from the customary Swiss handshake between teachers and pupils. Their teacher is a woman and the pupils requested an exemption on religious grounds. The decision has triggered a wave of indignation. Two pupils of 14 and 15 requested they […]
New Swiss police cat
On 1 April, Vaud Police presented their new police cat. The cat dressed in a police harness had its pictures posted on the Vaud Police’s Facebook page. The point of the post was to use April fools day and a cat in uniform to remind people not to believe everything they see online and maintain […]
Swiss large caps among the world’s worst stock performers in 2016
1 April 2016 – Swiss and global market roundup. Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. The SMI is set to finish the week (-1.43%) lower, underperforming global equity markets (+1.50%), which were buoyed after US Fed Chair Janet Yellen said on Tuesday that slackening global growth called for a gradual approach to raising rates. With a negative performance […]
Despite risks a more negative Swiss interest rate possible says SNB’s Maechler
Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. The Swiss National Bank won’t rule out another interest rate cut, though any measure must be weighed with a view to its potential side effects, Governing Board Member Andrea Maechler said. “We’re always looking into other options, if needed — we’re looking into all of them,” Maechler said at […]
If you saw the future would you try to change it?
Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s 17th century play Life is a dream is about a King who tries to alter fate by locking his son away. This harrowing, thought provoking tale about the conflict between free will and fate and a father and son will be performed by a group puppeteers at the Théâtre des […]
