Switzerland’s federal government recently announced plans to authorise the commercialisation of insects and worms as domestic food products. The supermarket Coop has applied for authorisation under the new rules, and plans to launch a new range of insect-based products. High in protein, insects come with a low carbon footprint and resource requirement. The federal office […]
Swiss MPs want cyclists to systematically lose driving licenses for rule breaking
20 Minutes. Hans-Peter Portman, a parliamentarian from Zurich, wants cyclists who break the road rules to suffer the same penalties as drivers. Last week, he, along with 72 other members, signed a parliamentary motion to have the sanctions stiffened for errant cyclists. According to Blick, the most common transgressions are crossing white lines, running red lights, weaving […]
December rally continues this week for SMI
16 December 2016 – Swiss and global market roundup. Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. 2016’s December rally continued this week as Swiss and European equities outperformed global stocks. The US dollar continued to surge after the Federal Reserve increased interest rates for only the second time in a decade on Wednesday. Fed Head Janet Yellen […]
Switzerland’s costliest cantons for tax, housing, health, commuting, and childcare
This week the bank Credit Suisse published its cantonal cost of living report. Its ranking considers a typical household’s biggest expenses: tax, housing, commuting, basic health insurance and childcare. It takes income and deducts all of these costs to arrive at a measure of disposable income. In a simplified world it might be expected that […]
No increase in Swiss cigarette tax likely in 2017
20 Minutes. Switzerland’s parliament voted 117 to 60 to reject the Federal Council’s plan to increase the tax on a packet of cigarettes in 2017. The Council of States, Switzerland’s upper house, will give its verdict next. From 2005 to 2015, the price of a packet of the most widely sold cigarettes has risen from […]
Switzerland’s best drivers are in German-speaking cantons, says report
The insurance company AXA Winterthur took a database of the roughly 70,000 declared accidents that occur annually across Switzerland, and sorted them by canton to see which had the best driving record. The rate of reported accidents was highest in Italian-speaking Ticino, which was ranked last, just behind Basel-City and Geneva. Next from the bottom were Valais and Vaud. Higher […]
Swiss fact: Switzerland is one of the world’s top 5 coffee exporters
According to UN trade statistics, the small Alpine nation exported US$ 2.4 billion1 of coffee in 2013. This figure is far higher than its cheese (US$ 615 million2) or chocolate (US$ 822 million3) exports, two far more famous Swiss exports. In 2013, Swiss coffee exports ranked 4th behind Brazil ($5.3b), Germany ($3.4b) and Vietnam ($2.9b). Ethiopia, […]
Private funds and UN agencies need to cooperate more, says president of Oak
A Walk in the Park with Kathleen Cravero-Kristoffersson, the president of Oak Foundation. Cravero-Kristoffersson has always had one objective: to improve lives, especially for women. Sometimes this has meant putting her life on the line. Now president of Oak Foundation, a private family foundation headquartered in Geneva, she is focussed on issues of social and environmental concern, […]
Swiss banks probed at home over Brazil’s ‘Carwash’ bribe scandal
Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. The Switzerland attorney general’s office is shifting its focus to banks operating in the country as it continues to investigate Brazil’s bribery scandal, after plea deals with individual executives provided fresh insights into how the illicit funds flowed through the financial system. Attorney General Michael Lauber said in an […]
The Swiss commune that inspired a Nobel-prize-winning theory on communal ownership
A traditional village in the Upper Valais helped give the world two of the most influential modern ideas in sociology and environmental activism. The region’s also worth visiting for its breath-taking 300˚ view of the Alps, visible from the top of an amazing high marshland, and for a super restaurant 2048 metres up above the […]
