Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
The economy takes centre stage in today’s press review, with new Swiss growth forecasts from the KOF economic research centre – overshadowed by the unpredictability of the Trump administration.
We also take a look at a new documentary on Credit Suisse, the steady decline of cash payments in Switzerland, and a popular initiative seeking to curb lobbying in parliament.
Enjoy your read!
Lobbying in the Swiss parliament in Bern is under scrutiny with the launch of a new popular initiative titled “For a policy serving the people (No to lobbying)”.
It calls for parliamentarians to be barred from taking part in debates or serving on commissions when they have conflicts of interest.
The initiative, published yesterday in the Federal Gazette, was launched by a group of citizens in canton Lucerne. They have until September 25 to collect the 100,000 signatures needed to bring the proposal to a national vote.
It proposes amending Article 161 of the Federal Constitution to ensure that parliamentarians recuse themselves from decisions linked to their declared interests. A public register would record the nature of any links to interest groups, as well as any fees or financial benefits.
The forecasts for the Swiss economy published by the federal technology institute ETH Zurich’s Centre for Economic Research (KOF) has confirmed growth of 1.4% in 2025 and revised the forecast for 2026 upwards: Switzerland’s economy is projected to grow by 1.9% in 2026.
The improved outlook is largely driven by expected stimulus packages in key European Union countries, which should boost demand for Swiss exports. On the domestic front, consumer spending is expected to rise thanks to a stable labour market and modest employment growth.
But there’s a major caveat: these forecasts are based on the assumption that global trade tensions don’t escalate. KOF warns of “unusually high uncertainty” due to the geopolitical strategy of the US administration.
A new documentary, Game Over – The Fall of Credit Suisse, premieres in Swiss cinemas this week, exploring the dramatic collapse of one of the country’s most iconic financial institutions.
The documentary also occupies a large space today in the Le Temps newspaper. In an interview, director Simon Helbling claims that he was under pressure not to make the film about the bank’s history.
These pressures were expressed ‘clearly, sometimes very directly’, says the 39-year-old. ‘But I felt much more pressure because of the responsibility that such a film entails: it is crucial for Switzerland to talk about what happened’.
The documentary follows the bank’s troubled journey from the Chiasso branch scandal in 1997 to its eventual collapse and takeover by UBS in 2023.
A key moment was the costly expansion into the US, where the bank suffered heavy losses. That was where “the bank lost so much money in twenty years that it was one of the reasons for its disappearance”, Arthur Rutishauser, editor-in-chief of the SonntagsZeitung and the investigative journalist who co-wrote the the film, told Le Temps.
For the first time, debit cards have overtaken cash as the most commonly used payment method in Switzerland, according to the Swiss National Bank (SNB).
In 2024, 35% of transactions were made with debit cards, compared to 30% with cash, 18% using mobile apps, and 14% with credit cards. Back in 2017, cash still accounted for 70% of payments.
Older people and those on lower incomes are the most frequent users of cash, citing better spending control and the privacy of offline payments.
Meanwhile, the mobile payment app TWINT has topped the reputation rankings for Swiss companies for the second year running, according to market research firm NIQ GfK. Rounding out the top three were snack-maker Zweifel and herbal sweet brand Ricola.
Translated from Italian using DeepL/amva
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