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Swiss Life ready to shed jobs in 2009

This content was published on Nov 19, 2008 Bruno Pfister told the Handelszeitung economics weekly in an interview published on Wednesday that cost management was becoming ever more significant in today’s economic environment. “Although we have made great progress in the last few years, we have to further improve our efficiency to remain competitive,” he said. When asked if that meant that jobs…

Euro 2008 football fans boost beer sales

This content was published on Nov 18, 2008 The Swiss Brewers’ Association in Zurich said a total of 4.49 million hectolitres of beer was sold in the brewers’ year, which runs from the beginning of October to the end of September. In a statement on Tuesday, the association said this represented 153,000 hectolitres more than sold in the previous year. Swiss production was…

Oloffson leaves Nestlé for Carrefour

This content was published on Nov 18, 2008 Oloffson, who was once tipped as a candidate for the top job at Nestlé, is to take up his new post on January 1, the French group said in a statement on Tuesday. Carrefour has been struggling as consumers switch to discount stores and curb spending on non-essential items. Oloffson, a Swedish national, has held…

UBS scraps contentious bonus system

This content was published on Nov 17, 2008 From 2009, bonuses will be held back and forfeited if long-term results are not reached. Board members have waived bonuses this year after UBS racked up $44 billion (SFr52 billion) of subprime mortgage losses. The bank is also looking into the possibility of clawing back performance-related pay already awarded to departed executives. Earlier this month,…

Fixing atom smasher is no small matter

This content was published on Nov 17, 2008 The Large Hadron Collider, a SFr6 billion ($5.46 billion) machine designed to recreate the earliest moments of the universe, suffered a cooling-system malfunction nine days after scientists started it in September. James Gillies, spokesman of the European Nuclear Research Organisation (Cern) , pushed the restart date back until early summer and said repairs could cost…

Christmas spirit remains with Swiss shoppers

This content was published on Nov 17, 2008 The study contradicts however findings published last week by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) which said consumer confidence in Switzerland was at a five-year low. On Monday Deloitte said 73 per cent of the 940 people questioned in October reported that the ongoing financial crisis “would have no significant influence” on their general…

Geneva auctions attract the big collectors

This content was published on Nov 17, 2008 Antiquorum, the world’s leading watch auctioneer, reported an “extraordinary” result of SFr15,209,600 ($12,765,086). A world record price of SFr2,208,000 was paid for the star of the sale, The Royal Presentation Mirror-Image Pair, a set of gold pocket watches painted on enamel. The pair was made around 1815 for presentation in the name of King George…

Bank “supervisors” proposed at G20 summit

This content was published on Nov 16, 2008 One reform in particular could change the workings of Switzerland’s biggest banks, UBS and Credit Suisse: the plan for new supervisory bodies to oversee the activities of leading banks. The summit conclusions adopted on Saturday in the US capital identify around 50 different areas for action. But the outcome was not the “reinvention of the…

Family incentives linked to birth rate

This content was published on Nov 16, 2008 Giuliano Bonoli, of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Public Administration in Lausanne, reviewed changes in the birth rate in different cantons between 1980 to 2000 in his study, published in the Journal of European Social Policy. The cantons of Geneva, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Basel City and Zurich managed to maintain the number of births at…

Protestors question financial bail-out

This content was published on Nov 15, 2008 The demonstration in Zurich on Saturday was organised by trade unions who in turn called for money to be invested into the state pension scheme. Around 3,500 people were present. The Trade Union Federation and the country’s biggest trade union Unia say the UBS bail-out should be subject to strict conditions and priority given to…

Internal: Archive

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Internal: Archive

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Swiss Life ready to shed jobs in 2009

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Euro 2008 football fans boost beer sales

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Oloffson leaves Nestlé for Carrefour

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UBS scraps contentious bonus system

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Fixing atom smasher is no small matter

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Christmas spirit remains with Swiss shoppers

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Geneva auctions attract the big collectors

More

Bank “supervisors” proposed at G20 summit

More

Family incentives linked to birth rate

More

Protestors question financial bail-out

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