Banking & Fintech

Switzerland opens borders to heavy goods traffic

This content was published on Jan 2, 2001 Truckers are dreading long tailbacks at the main border posts, but the first day passed off without any major hitches. “Everything has gone according to plan,” said Hugo Geiger, from the federal customs office who is overseeing the project. “We are happy with the situation so far, although we must say that traffic has been…

Electricity companies promise to cut costs ahead of privatisation

This content was published on Jan 2, 2001 Anticipated competition is driving energy suppliers to offer promises of future discounts in order to lure new clients and hold on to existing ones. Although they cannot legally provide electricity to new clients until the market is liberalised, distributors can promise rebates for the future. Competition between electricity providers has already led to discounts of…

Dubai: a golden opportunity for the Swiss

This content was published on Jan 2, 2001 Not an oil-rich emirate, most of the wealth of the UAE’s second largest emirate, Dubai, has been built on commerce and trade, primarily the gold re-export business. Andre Bissang, a Swiss citizen working in Dubai for more than 20 years, opened the World Gold Council’s first office in Dubai 10 years ago. He told swissinfo…

New laws lead to higher pensions but keep women at work

This content was published on Jan 2, 2001 The country’s older generation has seen its pensions go up by 2.5 per cent from January to make up for inflation over the past two years. However, women now have to wait a year longer before they get a pension. The retirement age for men remains unchanged at 65. Swiss residents will see their monthly…

Switzerland gears up for new onslaught of heavy goods traffic

This content was published on Jan 2, 2001 Starting in January, the weight limit for heavy goods vehicles is being increased from 28 to 34 tonnes. More 40 tonne trucks will also appear on Swiss roads as part of a transport agreement with the European Union. At the same time, Switzerland is introducing the world’s first tax on heavy goods vehicles, based on…

Operation Red Nose 2000 reaches new record

This content was published on Jan 1, 2001 Since December 8, some 3774 volunteers drove home 7980 people who had drunk too much alcohol to be able to drive themselves. The group said the volunteers covered a distance of 150,319 kilometres in the process. Red Nose reported a 34 per cent increase in the number of requests for lifts from 3198 in 1999,…

New Year wishes paralyse Swisscom SMS service

This content was published on Jan 1, 2001 Just as people were beginning to welcome in the year 2001, Switzerland’s biggest mobile phone network suffered its worst disruptions to date due to an overload of the system. Christian Neuhaus, spokesman for Swisscom, said that around 19h00, the system began to be inundated with messages. He said the traffic was “crazy”. From then on,…

Swiss economy shaping up well for 2001

This content was published on Jan 1, 2001 Overall, the Swiss economic indicators last year were good. In June, unemployment fell below the two per cent level for the first time in around eight years with some forecasters predicting a return to full employment. In some sectors, such as finance and information technology, the problem now is a shortage of skilled staff. Coupled…

Swiss executive seeks to buy bank

This content was published on Dec 31, 2000 In an advertisement in the French-language daily, Le Matin, Schweri said he was looking to buy “a bank or a majority stake in a bank” and that he “won’t be content with a minority stake”. The move comes just days after Schweri handed over control of the entire Denner group, including the toy manufacturer, Franz…

Number of BSE cases in Switzerland drops in 2000

This content was published on Dec 31, 2000 Out of the 33 cases detected in 2000, 16 were discovered through the government surveillance programme, UP2000, while 17 cases were discovered by private veterinary clinics. The 17 cases detected in clinics affected animals born after a ban on feeding meat-based animal feed to cattle went into effect on December 1, 1990. The Swiss government…

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