SWI swissinfo

Britain and the EU: hardly leaving at greyhound pace.(Associated Press) Three years after voting to leav...

What do foreignbanks in the City of London need to consider? (EPA FILE) The UK’s financial regulator has urged a group of inteational banks in the City of London to limit the number of client...

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...

Swiss firms are waiting to see which Britain Theresa May leads out from the shadows of negotiations(Keystone) While Switzerland is not involved in Britain’s divorce from the European Union, many ...

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 ...

Britain has tued its back on the European Union (Keystone) Britain has decided to leave the European Union. The immediate effects for Switzerland include a strengthening franc, Swiss National Bank intervention and a govement helpline for conceed citizens and businesses. In the long term, sorting out a free movement deal with Be has dropped far down the list of priorities for Brussels. In a final result on Friday moing, the “leave” side won 51.89% of the vote and the “remain” side 48.11%. The Swiss foreign ministry immediately aounced a helpline had been set up for Swiss citizens and businesses wanting to know what Brexit could mean for them: 0800 247 365 in Switzerland (free) and 0041 ...

The outcome of the Brexit ballot has launched a new debate around the world about the merits and risks of citizens' participation in a decision-making process The decision by the British electorate to leave the European Union has created a worldwide discussion on the limits and potential of the referendum process. In the future, June 23 may be seen as a tipping point. When a majority in the plebiscite-referendum voted to leave the EU, it created gigantic political and economic waves across the globe. With presidential offices in China and the United States commenting on the result, Brexit may have won the most attention of any referendum in history. In the slipstream of post-Brexit-eru...

Britain has tued its back on the European Union (Keystone) Britain has decided to leave the European Union. The immediate effects for Switzerland include a strengthening franc, Swiss National Bank intervention and a govement helpline for conceed citizens and businesses. In the long term, sorting out a free movement deal with Be has dropped far down the list of priorities for Brussels. In a final result on Friday moing, the “leave” side won 51.89% of the vote and the “remain” side 48.11%. The Swiss foreign ministry immediately aounced a helpline had been set up for Swiss citizens and businesses wanting to know what Brexit could mean for them: 0800 247 365 in Switzerland (free) and 0041 ...

Britons have a long history in Switzerland, and now tens of thousands call it home (Keystone) British voters have opted to leave the European Union in one of the most momentous referendums the country has ever seen. What does that mean for Brits abroad? As of November 2014 there were 41,577 British citizens in Switzerland (out of some 1.3 million in Europe). At this stage there are far more questions than answers for how Thursday’s vote will affect these people. For the time being – nothing will change. The UK has two years to figure out the terms and conditions of how it will leave the European Union. What does it mean for British citizens currently living in Switzerland? The Swiss go...

Britain is Geneva’s fourth biggest economic partner, after France, Hong Kong and the United States (Keystone) As the shockwaves of the British leap in the dark and exit from the European Union continue to reverberate, businessmen and other observers reflect on the possible consequences for canton Geneva, which holds close ties with Britain. “The canton of Geneva will be the Swiss canton most affected by the Brexit,” Cei Najy, a researcher from the Swiss Forum on Foreign Policy (Foraus) think tank told reporters on Thursday. “Geneva is in a position of interdependency with the United Kingdom.” Switzerland and Britain maintain a close trading relationship. Britain is the fifth largest des...

Britain has tued its back on the European Union (Keystone) Britain has decided to leave the European Union. The immediate effects for Switzerland include a strengthening franc, Swiss National Bank intervention and a govement helpline for conceed citizens and businesses. In the long term, sorting out a free movement deal with Be has dropped far down the list of priorities for Brussels. In a final result on Friday moing, the “leave” side won 51.89% of the vote and the “remain” side 48.11%. The Swiss foreign ministry immediately aounced a helpline had been set up for Swiss citizens and businesses wanting to know what Brexit could mean for them: 0800 247 365 in Switzerland (free) and 0041 ...

Joha Schneider-Amma and EC President Jean-Claude Juncker will have plenty to talk about in the coming months (Keystone) Following the decision by the British people to leave the European Union, swissinfo.ch examines the potential economic consequences for Switzerland. Exchange rates The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has its work cut out keeping the franc’s valuation from going through the ceiling as investors seek a safe haven. The SNB intervened in the foreign exchange markets, printing more francs to buy up other currencies, as the euro and British pound rapidly lost ground. The central bank’s foreign reserves breached the CHF600 billion mark last month. This was a record for the SNB, whi...

Swiss exporters are bracing themselves for another hike in the relative value of the franc (Keystone) Swiss stocks fell sharply and the franc rose in strength as news of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union reverberated around the markets. The key SMI index tumbled 5.3% on opening on Friday moing. Swiss banks were particularly badly hit, with Credit Suisse seeing 11% wiped off its value in early trading, while UBS and Julius Bär suffeed share price falls of nearly 9%. The euro fell to just above CHF1.06 against the franc but recovered to around CHF1.08. The British pound also lost ground against the safe haven franc in early trading. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) confirmed that it i...