Archive – Banking & Fintech

Swiss Re reports strong result for Q2

This content was published on Aug 4, 2011 The Zurich company, which basically insures insurers, said it had a net profit of $960 million (SFr746 million), compared with $812 million achieved in the same time the previous year. Swiss Re, the world’s second-largest reinsurer, easily beat a poll by Reuters which had mentioned a profit figure of $545 million. The company’s chief executive,…

Press unswayed by “placebo” franc cuts

This content was published on Aug 4, 2011 The Swiss National Bank (SNB) on Wednesday reduced official interest rates by 50 basis points to a target range of 0-0.25 per cent. It is the first time the SNB has lowered the interbank Libor rate since March 2009. The bank said the franc was “massively overvalued at present” and it was aiming for the…

Universities may apply foreign student quotas

This content was published on Aug 3, 2011 At present only one university has such a quota, but several other institutions, especially in German-speaking Switzerland, are considering it. Higher fees for students from abroad may also be possible. The rectors’ conference issued its expert opinion, by the lawyer and rector of Lucerne University Paul Richli, to institutes of higher learning at the end…

Credit card air passengers to pay more

This content was published on Aug 3, 2011 On Wednesday Swiss said the costs involved in buying tickets with credit cards had risen in recent years. For this reason part of the costs were being shifted to the customer. Passengers on internal flights will have to pay an extra SFr6 ($7.80) per ticket, those on European flights SFr11 and those leaving Europe will…

Nine out of ten drink containers recycled

This content was published on Aug 3, 2011 In 2010, 94 per cent of all glass was recycled. The figure was 91 per cent for aluminium cans and 80 per cent for plastic Pet containers, according to the Federal Environment Office. The total weight of all drinks packaging (glass, aluminium and Pet) sold last year rose slightly from 304,505 to 305,168 tons. Ninety-one…

Swiss retain rail enthusiasm

This content was published on Aug 2, 2011 The average distance covered by each inhabitant was 2,258 kilometres, much further than their nearest rivals, the Japanese, who managed only 1,910 kilometres. Both were down on their 2009 figure: 2,291 and 1,995 respectively. However, the average Japanese took 69 trains – down from 71, while the Swiss caught 50, which was one more than…

ABB wins huge power transmission deal

This content was published on Aug 2, 2011 The order, from Dutch-German transmission grid operator TenneT, is worth around $1 billion (SFr 780 million) the company announced on Tuesday. “The completed link will be capable of supplying more than 1.5 million households with clean wind-generated electricity,” ABB said in a statement. It added that the network, which would become operational in 2015, would…

Farm numbers drop

This content was published on Aug 2, 2011 Farming now employs 3.3 per cent of the Swiss work force; in 1905, when there were more than a quarter of a million farms, it was 41 per cent. Farms today are on average nearly four times bigger than they were then. In the middle of 2010 there were 59,065 farms, a 1.6 per cent…

Russian business raises stake in small market

This content was published on Jul 31, 2011 One observer of Russian business interests in Switzerland estimates that the number of enterprises has nearly doubled in the last five years to reach around 200 separate entities. The presence is still mainly felt in the commodities market with Switzerland trading some 75 per cent of all Russian oil exports. Russian commodities heavyweights Rosneft, Bashneft…

Swiss “tundra” sparks tug of war

This content was published on Jul 29, 2011 Located between cantons Ticino and Graubünden in southeastern Switzerland, the Greina high plateau was approved for a power plant in 1962. But strong resistance from conservationists during the 1970s and 1980s, coupled with inefficiencies, scuttled the project in 1986. It lay dormant until recently, when the decision of the government to phase out nuclear energy…

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Archive – Banking & Fintech

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Archive – Banking & Fintech

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Swiss Re reports strong result for Q2

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Press unswayed by “placebo” franc cuts

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Universities may apply foreign student quotas

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Credit card air passengers to pay more

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Nine out of ten drink containers recycled

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Swiss retain rail enthusiasm

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ABB wins huge power transmission deal

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Farm numbers drop

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Russian business raises stake in small market

More

Swiss “tundra” sparks tug of war

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