Archive – Banking & Fintech

Royal jewels and rare watches up for grabs

This content was published on May 13, 2008 This week Geneva’s auction houses are holding their spring sales with jewellery, luxury watches and vintage wine valued at more than SFr140 million ($133.7 million) up for auction. On Monday Christie’s sold a pair of Patek Philippe wristwatches for a combined SFr7.3 million, each setting world records after doubling their lower initial estimates. In all,…

UBS to face bombings lawsuit

This content was published on May 13, 2008 The lawsuit, filed in New York, accuses the bank of helping fund the organisations behind the attacks through dealings with Iran. It seeks damages for more than 50 United States citizens who were injured in Israel between 1997 and 2006 or for relatives of people killed. US government reports say Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic…

Ban on animal meal to be overturned

This content was published on May 10, 2008 In Switzerland and the rest of Europe, manufacturers are preparing for production again and the authorities are promising to enforce the strictest safety standards. The feed will only be given to chickens and pigs, and they will not be chewing on fodder produced from their own species. “There will be no authorisation [for production] without…

Computer security under increased threat

This content was published on May 9, 2008 The Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance said on Friday that firewalls and anti-virus software alone are not sufficient to protect computers from attacks or sensitive company documents from theft. Internet criminals no longer try to penetrate firewalls but are increasingly “picking the soft spot inside and that’s the user,” Marc Henauer, head of…

Computer security under increased threat

This content was published on May 9, 2008 The Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance said on Friday in its semi-annual report that activities such as data theft and the distribution of malicious software are on the rise. The agency said that cyber criminals are often one step ahead of anti-virus software and that users cannot solely rely on technology alone to…

Economy remains robust

This content was published on May 8, 2008 Released on Thursday, the results of two surveys – by bank UBS and the Swiss Economic Institute KOF – found that the economy was still buoyant. However a majority of branches said the economy was beginning to lose steam, KOF said in a statement, even if they remained confident in the short term. Export companies,…

EU withholding tax proceeds grow

This content was published on May 8, 2008 The withholding tax on savings accounts of EU citizens added up to SFr653 million ($618 million) last year, SFr116 million more than in 2006. A 15 per cent levy is taken from interest earned on savings accounts and distributed to EU countries unless clients can prove they already pay the tax in their home country.…

Eco-car revolution “possible within three years”

This content was published on May 8, 2008 The Swatch Group chairman has launched a project to speed up research into an ecological energy system, harnessing sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. This could be used to power car engines. Hayek was speaking at a conference staged by the world motoring organisation Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) in Lucerne on Wednesday.…

More gamblers boost casino profits

This content was published on May 8, 2008 Gaming profits for Switzerland’s 17 casinos reached SFr908.8 million ($861.34 million) in 2007, a 5.4 per cent increase over the previous year. More than three quarters of this revenue came from slot machines and the rest from gaming tables. The number of visitors also rose to five million from 4.7 million a year earlier, the…

Unemployment rises slightly

This content was published on May 8, 2008 It rose to 2.6 per cent from 2.5 per cent in April, according to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco). Overall, the number of registered unemployed actually fell slightly, to 100,880. Serge Gaillard, the head of Seco, called the figures “disappointing”. Analysts said that they did not consider the rise as marking a turning…

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