Switzerland Today

Dear Swiss Abroad,

“For Swiss citizens living abroad, it is often difficult to maintain a financial relationship with Switzerland,” writes the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad, which has been working for several years to find solutions to this problem. Now it has some good news! Read the details – plus other news and views from Switzerland on Tuesday – below.

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In the news:  Swiss Solidarity, the humanitarian arm of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), recorded the second-highest annual amount of donations in its history last year.

• The foundation collected CHF154 million ($166 million) for people in Ukraine and those affected by floods in Pakistan (pictured), among others. It used more than CHF56 million in 326 projects run by its Swiss partner organisations in 42 countries worldwide. Major humanitarian crises, a historic collection and an extraordinary wave of solidarity had marked 2022, it said.
• UBS enjoyed a 23% rise in pre-tax profits in the final quarter as it benefited from clients switching from rival Credit Suisse. The Swiss bank today reported $1.7 billion (CHF1.58 billion) of net profit in the final three months of 2022, comfortably ahead of analyst estimates of $1.3 billion, bringing the group’s profit for the year to $7.6 billion.
• Condiment crisis! Aromat, a popular food seasoning, is in short supply on Swiss supermarket shelves, according to newspaper BlickExternal link. Unilever – the British giant that controls the German company Knorr, which in turn produces Aromat – admits that “here and there some gaps have appeared on the shelves”, adding, however, that by next week at the latest the spaces will be full again. Aromat is currently unavailable in supermarket Migros, but that’s due to a purchase price disagreement rather than supply chain issues.

© Keystone / Ennio Leanza

Good news for your finances! The Swiss Abroad often find it hard to keep a bank account in Switzerland. Yesterday the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA) announced a success in this area.

The OSA has concluded a second “SwissCommunity” partnership with a Swiss bank, the Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB). This follows the 2017 partnership with the Cantonal Bank of Geneva.

ZKB, Switzerland’s third-largest bank, offers Swiss citizens living abroad similar banking services to those offered to people living in Switzerland – at “attractive banking conditions”, according to the statement. For example, there is apparently no minimum amount required to open an account. Read more about the conditions here at swissinfo.ch.

• The press releaseExternal link of the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad.
• Read this article to find out which topics are relevant to the Swiss Abroad in addition to bank accounts.
• Our focus on the Swiss Abroad.

Pascal Mora/Keystone

Switzerland ranked seventh for a second year in a row in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, but its overall score marks a historic low for the country.

Nepotism and opaque political lobbying stand out among the Swiss public sector’s trouble spots, according to the NGO’s Swiss chapter.

“Compared with other countries, Switzerland is performing well,” Martin Hilti, director of Transparency Switzerland, told SWI swissinfo.ch. “It figures among the top ten countries. That’s good news. But it is very important to contextualise this result. We have our own corruption problems in Switzerland.”

Denmark topped the ranking. Finland and New Zealand tied for second place. The conflict-stricken nations of South Sudan, Syria and Somalia fared worst, getting bottom marks yet again.

“Even countries that hold the top spots on the [index] have stagnated, as they fail to address shortcomings in political integrity frameworks,” Transparency International warned. Switzerland “is showing signs of decline amid concerns over weak integrity and lobbying regulations”.

To reverse the trend, Switzerland must put an end to the “widespread” practice of nepotism, improve the way conflicts of interest are dealt with, and better regulate lobbying, Hiltl said. “We’re lacking transparency – for the general public to know which lobbyist is lobbying for what interests, when, with whom,” he told SWI.

He also called for greater transparency in the financing of political life at the cantonal and communal level, noting that most cantons and communes have yet to legislate in this area.  With Switzerland being a small country, tightknit communities sometimes fail to recognise conflicts of interest, such as when local politicians get ski passes at a preferential rate. “We have hard work to do in Switzerland,” he stressed. “We can’t lie back and say OK, everything’s fine.”