Scandals damaged Swiss business reputation in 2018
Shady business: state-owned PostBus pocketed millions in federal and cantonal subsidies
Keystone
Switzerland’s reputation as a place to do business took a serious hit last year following various scandals, from corporate bank fraud to illegal subsidies.
The Swiss Economy Reputation Index 2018External link, published on Tuesday by Basel-based consultancy Commslab and the fög research institute at the University of Zurich, dropped for the fifth consecutive quarter, reaching its lowest level since July 2014.
This deterioration was due to real-world as well as fiscal developments, Commslab said in a statementExternal link. The considerable damage done to the Swiss financial sector resulted above all from the Raiffeisen scandal, in which the bank’s former boss is facing criminal proceedings for suspected corporate fraud.
However, recent legal woes for UBS in France and the United States didn’t help, the authors said.
State-owned PostBus, known for its alpine network of distinctive yellow buses, came under intense scrutiny after an audit found it had manipulated accounts between 2007 and 2015 to pocket millions in federal and cantonal subsidies. This led to the resignation of the entire PostBus top management, the CEO of Swiss Post and several members of the board.
Regarding individual sectors, insurers and life science companies enjoyed the best reputations, improving their already-good names; constructors and the media also saw their reputational stock rise.
At the other end of the index were banks and at the very bottom, by some distance, transport/logistics companies.
For the index, researchers looked at around 14,800 reputationally relevant media reports involving 138 companies in 18 sectors.
More
More
Trump visit and ‘double-headed eagle’ gesture dominate Swiss image in foreign press
This content was published on
Presence Switzerland, the foreign ministry’s promotional arm, has published its annual monitoring of the foreign press and social media.
Swiss cantons spared duty to create new traveller transit sites
This content was published on
Swiss cantons will no longer be formally obliged by the government to create new transit sites for the travelling community.
Swiss politicians bemoan limited access to EU treaty details
This content was published on
Protests that only a few Swiss parliamentarians will be able to read the contents of a new agreement negotiated with the EU.
This content was published on
For the first time, most Swiss residents favour withdrawing their pension pot as a lump-sum over regular annuity payments.
This content was published on
The cost of buying a home in Switzerland rose by 4.1% year-on-year in the last quarter and by 0.7% compared to the previous three months.
Landslide threatened Swiss village of Brienz faces many more evacuations
This content was published on
The population of the Swiss village of Brienz/Brinzauls isn warned to expect more landslide evacuations in the coming years.
This content was published on
Swiss International Air Lines will avoid Pakistani airspace until further notice due to rising tension between India and Pakistan.
This content was published on
Three recent Swiss diplomatic controversies have raised questions about whether the country can still be considered a moral voice in world affairs.
Swiss tech universities boost economy by CHF13 billion, report says
This content was published on
Switzerland’s two federal technology institutes account for 100,000 jobs and CHF13 billion in added value to the economy, a new report calculates.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.