SWI swissinfo

Might there be another way for banks like UBS to deal with the next financial crisis?(Keystone) A new technology -blockchain -could prove more effective at containing a financial crash than regulations or safeguards built into the current system.In 2008, a financial crisis began to unfold that saw banks crumble, credit freeze up and economies go into free fall – and another financial crisis is inevitable, even if it’s impossible to predict when or where the ticking time bomb will explode.A growing number of people believe the decentralized, encrypted blockchain ledger would do a better job than banks, regulators, policy makers and rating...

Swiss in the UK express conce over the split with Europe. (swissinfo.ch) Relations between Switzerland and the United Kingdom are close, but the prospect of Brexit has cast a dark cloud over Swiss citizens living in the UK, who are uncertain about what the future may hold. We talked to three delegates from the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA),to find outhow their lives might change when the UK is no longer an EU member. Nathalie Chuard is brand manager at Mondelez in Uxbridge, north London. She has worked for the multinational confectionery, food, and beverage company for seven years altogether, first in Switzerland and then in London.She fears thatBrexit could threaten the perfo...

Bangkok has expanded rapidly in the time since Lukas Habersaat has been there. (Keystone) Lukas Habersaat, a long-term resident in Thailand, has received official recognition for developing a pioneering business model in Bangkok’s entertainment district. He has lived with his partner in Bangko...

Will Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May stay or go? And what about Brexit?There are lots of questions after the shock UK vote (Keystone) Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision to hold a snap election to strengthen her hand in Brexit talks has been disastrous, leaving the country in uncharter...

Mar 11, 2017 - 11:00Six years after the Fukushima disaster on March 11, 2011, 70% of the evacuated and forbidden areas have been freed up by Japanese authorities and the policy of retuing the population to those areas continues. Two Genevans, Matthieu Berthod and Jean-Patrick Di Silvest...

Julius Baerbelieves Brexit will dent Britain's economic growth(Keystone)Julius Baer, Switzerland’s biggest standalone private bank, sees Brexit as an opportunity to acquire a rival in the UK, according to chief executive Boris Collardi.The bank, with a market value of CHF11.3 billion ($11.2 billion) and assets under management of CHF336 million, already has more than 200 staff in the UK. It was plaing to build a European hub there before the UK voted last year to quit the EU.“If a UK bank became a seller (of its private bank) at some stage and approached us, probably we would look at it, on the basis it would be a contrarian move at a moment when UK assets were cheap,” Collardi told the Fina...

The City of London's financial sector is plaing how to re-position itself with the EU (Keystone) The City of London has given up hope of universal access to the EU single market and is now seeking a bespoke deal for its different sectors to trade with Europe, with similar but stronger ties than Switzerland. Teams across the City and Whitehall have been working over the summer to draw up a plan for Britain's exit from the EU. Officials and representatives from the financial sector are getting ready to present their policy ideas in time for them to be considered by the cabinet committee for Brexit, chaired by Theresa May, the prime minister, when it meets in early September, people involve...

While anxious about the post-Brexit risks for the UK, the Roche CEOwas upbeat on the future of the pharma sector in the US (Keystone) Roche, the Swiss pharmaceutical company, has waed that the UK risks losing its lead in medical research after leaving the European Union. The Swiss group called for Britain to move quickly to replace European regulations with rules that give patients access to iovative treatments or else risk delays in developing crucial medicines. The future of local drug regulation was "my biggest worry in the UK", said Severin Schwan, Roche's chief executive. London-based European Medicines Agency, which supervises drugs used in the EU, is expected to relocate to another ...

There is nothing stopping Great Britain from becoming a second Switzerland, writes Sławomir Sierakowski. (Keystone) In Britain and throughout the West, we are witnessing the eclipse of the political mainstream. Politicians like Donald Trump in the US, Jarosław Kaczyński in Poland, or Marine Le Pen in France were once unelectable, but today the mainstream is unelectable. In Austria, it took a presidential candidate outside of the establishment, Alexander Van der Bellen, to block – by the barest of margins – a far-right victory. We should expect to see only more electoral success for populist politicians and projects like the United Kingdom’s “Brexit” referendum. Sławomir Sierakowski is ...

The Swiss Post, including its yellow postal buses, is one of the biggest public service companies (Keystone) Voters on Sunday decide on a proposal by consumer groups to boost basic services of state-owned companies, including a cap on top manager salaries and a review of strategic business objectives. The outcome of the ballot is expected to be close, despite broad opposition by all major political parties, the govement as well as the business community and the trade unions. The initiative was launched by four consumer magazines following complaints about perceived dropping standards notably by the Federal Railways, the Post Office and the Swisscom telecom provider. The companies, with ...

Swisscom boss Urs Schaeppi eraned over three times more than a govement minister last year. (Keystone) More than 8,000 state-owned public service workers are “overpaid”, according to research that tests the possible impact of a Swiss people’s initiative. If the initiative is accepted on June 5, the three main employers affected may have to impose a CHF127.3 million ($130 million) collective wage cut. One of the aims of the “Pro Public Services” initiative is to restrict wages to the same levels as those eaed by civil servants and other people who work directly for the federal administration. For example, chief executives should not ea more than a govement minister (CHF475,000), according ...

Switzerland has become a commodity trading hub over the past 15 years Voters last month rejected a proposal to ban speculation in food products but not as overwhelmingly as had been expected. Another people's initiative dubbed “For Responsible Business” is now directly aimed against the commodities sector which has a strong presence in Switzerland and is regularly targeted by civil society organisations. “The business world has realised how unpopular it is. It will need to work hard to improve its image,” the Le Temps newspaper wrote the day after the Feb 28 vote initiated by the Young Socialists. They had hoped to outlaw financial instruments that allow speculation in food products....

A healthy pale grass blue (left). A mutated specimen (right) has short wings and an additional antea (Keystone) The consequences of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima five years ago surfaced in a terrible way in serious mutations in butterflies. This discovery is owing to the tireless work of the Japanese researcher Chiyo Nohara, who died a few months ago. The Japanese editorial team at swissinfo.ch met her at a conference in Switzerland in 2014. “I had nothing to do with Fukushima before that,” Nohara recalled in the below interview, which took place at a symposium on “Effects of Radiation on Genetics” in Geneva, when she was already seriously ill. “After the nuclear accident, I worri...