20 Minutes. A government commission has been developing a package of changes to Switzerland’s compulsory basic health insurance for the last five years. The group recently agreed on changes that would reduce the premiums paid by younger adults, who consume less health resource, and reduce the amount children pay. Part of this plan, which the commission […]
Global stocks at lowest levels since July
14 October 2016 – Swiss and global market roundup. Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. The Swiss Market Index is set to finish the week lower, but outperforming global stocks, thanks to a strong week of luxury good stocks. Global stocks fell to their lowest levels since July on Thursday as investors rushed to the safety of government bonds, […]
Swiss cross-border shopping declines
20 Minutes. Residents of German-speaking Switzerland appear to doing less shopping across the border, something that has also been observed in Geneva. According to the newspaper the Handelszeitung, Swiss cross-border shopping peaked in 2015 and local customs posts have seen a decline in VAT and duty collected since March. At the border in Kreuzlingen, near Lake […]
More Swiss visas for non-Europeans in 2017
20 Minutes. Visa quotas for non-EU workers will rise next year. The increased quotas will include 3,000 B-permits and 4,500 L-permits, 1,000 more than this year. These limits are still lower than in 2014, when Swiss politics turned against the free movement of workers from the EU. 2014 quotas of 3,500 B-permits and 5,000 short-term L-permits, […]
Skiers’ delight as wet start to 2017 to bring snow to Europe
Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. Heavy rain that risks causing flooding at lower altitudes in late January and early February is expected to bring snow to Europe’s pistes and potentially boost reservoirs for electricity generation. Rivers will likely flood in northern Spain and southern Germany, according to Accuweather Inc. There will be more snowfall […]
Thailand’s King Bhumibol’s life in Lausanne, Switzerland
88-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand died today. Born in Cambridge in the US on 5 December 1927, while his father was studying public health at Harvard University, he later spent nearly 18 formative years in Lausanne. Roughly a year after arriving in Thailand in 1928, his father died of kidney failure. Then in 1933, […]
Swiss fact: Switzerland has one of the world’s lowest home ownership rates
In Romania, 96.1% of the population owns the home they live in. In Switzerland the percentage is 37.4%. Home ownership rates vary significantly across the country. The lowest rates are found in the canton of Basel-City (16.0%) and Geneva (18.3%). Relative to these two cities, home ownership abounds in Valais (57.2%), the highest. Vaud (31.4%), Zurich […]
App offering discounted restaurant leftovers, launches in Geneva
Millions of tonnes of food are thrown away every year. The smartphone app, Too Good to Go (TGTG), aims to solve this problem by offering leftovers at deep discounts. App users locate offers in their vicinity, pay for them by credit card, and pick them up within specified time slots, usually within half an hour of kitchens […]
Swiss central bank can cut rates further if needed, says bank president Jordan
Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. The Swiss National Bank can cut interest rates further into negative territory if needed, President Thomas Jordan said. “We have still some room to go further if necessary,” Jordan said Saturday in an interview in Washington with Bloomberg Television’s Francine Lacqua. Jordan, who is attending the annual meetings of […]
Switzerland gets its first snow of the season
20 Minutes. Parts of Switzerland were covered in snow this weekend as the snow line crept down to 900 metres in some regions. Appenzell-Innerrhoden had snow at this level, reaching 20 centimetres in depth in places. According to Sharon Satz, from Meteonews, this is quite normal. “It snows at this altitude nearly every year in mid-October. It’s not […]
