Tag Archives: Switzerland

Switzerland: the world’s gold hub

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“Most of the gold produced in the world transits physically through Switzerland. Four of the world’s major refineries of gold are located on Swiss soil.  In 2011, over 2,600 metric tons of raw gold were imported into the country, to a total value of SFr96 billion ($103 billion). This was a record, the quantity having more than doubled over the last ten years, not including the gold that transits through Swiss free ports. What keeps the Swiss refineries going at full pace right now is not so much the demand for semi-finished products for jewellery and watchmaking, but the demand for gold bars.”

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/Switzerland:_the_world_s_gold_hub.html?cid=33706126

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Greece’s biggest company Coca-Cola Hellenic moves abroad

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“Greece’s largest company is to move its headquarters to Switzerland and list its shares in London, in a further blow to the struggling eurozone country.  Shareholders, most of whom are abroad, will exchange their stock for shares in Coca Cola HBC AG, based in Switzerland. Most investors have already accepted the plan after long complaining about Greek taxes, according to Reuters.  The company, in which The Coca-Cola Co of the US has a 23pc stake, bottles drinks in 28 countries from Russia to Nigeria.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9601942/Greeces-biggest-company-Coca-Cola-Hellenic-moves-abroad.html

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What’s Behind the Swiss Gearing Up for Major Unrest Throughout Europe?

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“Minister Maurer, accompanied by whispers from the top uniformed leadership in Switzerland, is trying to raise awareness that Europe’s massive fiscal-cum-political crisis could get very unpleasant. Swiss military exercises in September, called STABILO DUE, were based on EU instability getting out of hand. The Swiss have stayed out of the EU – one more thing the very prosperous Swiss are gloating about these days – and they certainly don’t want EU problems spilling over into their peaceful little country.”

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2012/10/whats-behind-swiss-gearing-up-for-major.html

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Ikea founder ‘too busy to die’

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“The 86-year-old founder of Swedish furniture giant Ikea revealed he has no plans to retire and rejected any idea of the company going public in an interview published in Switzerland.  Named by Swiss media in June as Europe’s richest man with an estimated fortune of $37.5 billion (28.8 billion euros) including holdings in the family-owned foundation, Lake Geneva resident Kamprad also rubbished recent reports that he intended to step down.  His sons all have key roles in the business that employs 131,000 people in 41 countries.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/06/kea-founder-too-busy-to-die/

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Swiss to tax family of suicide data thief

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“Tax authorities in the canton of Zurich are demanding 1.5 million francs ($1.6 million, €1.2 million) from the family of an Austrian man who committed suicide after he was arrested in September 2010 for stealing and selling the data to authorities in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.  The 42-year-old Credit Suisse employee reportedly received 2.5 million francs for the stolen data, which led German authorities to raid branches of the Swiss bank in 13 German cities.  Swiss authorities had blocked the heirs’ access to his entire estate in anticipation of the tax payment.”

http://www.thelocal.ch/page/view/swiss-to-tax-family-of-suicide-data-thief

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Heat-seeking US election rhetoric finds Swiss “piracy”

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“Anything goes in the US presidential elections, when it comes to lambasting and finding easy targets, but one of the oddest moves appeared Thursday, with the ‘Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus’ adding Italy and Switzerland to its black list. They join Russia, China and Ukraine on the list.  Switzerland, according to the group of 46 members of Congress, acts as a ‘magnet’ for piracy.  A key issue for the group appears to be strict Swiss data protection laws.”

http://genevalunch.com/blog/2012/09/21/heat-seeking-us-election-rhetoric-finds-swiss-piracy/

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Swiss Banking: Still Under Attack By Bankrupt Governments

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“The abundance of money that was being hidden in Swiss accounts to avoid paying taxes was not publicly discussed in Switzerland until recently. Everyone knew that it existed, but it only became an issue when other countries started running out of money during the debt crisis. Banking secrecy has been under pressure since the end of the Cold War, but it wasn’t until the crisis that the European Union, the OECD and the United States did everything in their power to destroy it.  Banking secrecy was once as unshakeable as the mountains, and together with independence, neutrality and direct democracy, it constituted one of the fundamental elements of the Swiss national myth.”

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/switzerland-looks-to-a-future-without-banking-secrecy-a-857662-druck.html

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S&P: Swiss central bank buying eurozone debt

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[Isn’t this what shareholder lawsuits were designed for?] “SNB’s eurozone bond purchases to July represented 48 percent of the European public sector’s financing needs, S&P said, up from about 9.0 percent in 2011.  The SNB’s policy is against a background of inflows of funds placed in the Swiss franc by foreign investors concerned about the eurozone debt crisis.  While the report cautioned that its estimates were subject to uncertainty since the SNB did not detail its foreign exchange holdings by country, ‘the scale of the buying is without question extensive.'”

http://www.thelocal.ch/page/view/swiss-central-bank-buys-eurozone-debt

The SNB’s increasingly tangled web

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2012/09/25/1176371/the-snbs-increasingly-tangled-web/

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Apple Copied 68-Year-Old Swiss Clock Design, Rail Operator Says

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“Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s new iPhone operating system infringes a trademarked design for clocks in Swiss rail stations, according to state-owned railway operator SBB.  The iOS 6 software, introduced this month by Apple, includes a clock icon with black and red hands that uses an SBB design created in 1944, Reto Kormann, a spokesman for the Swiss rail operator, said by telephone today.  SBB, which has allowed companies such as watchmaker Mondaine Watch Ltd. to use the design under a license, said that it’s in discussions with Cupertino, California-based Apple about a license or a settlement.”

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-09-21/apple-copied-68-year-old-swiss-clock-design-rail-operator-says

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Swiss agree on 100-franc fines for pot smokers

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“Switzerland’s parliament ruled on Thursday to fine adult cannabis users 100 francs ($107) if caught with small quantities of the drug.  Switzerland’s largest party, the right-wing populist Swiss People’s Party, said it would not push for a referendum on the issue despite consistently arguing for higher fines for pot smokers, newspaper 20 Minuten reports.  Thursday’s vote marks the end of a protracted disagreement between the two houses of parliament.”

http://www.thelocal.ch/page/view/swiss-agree-on-100-franc-fines-for-pot-smokers

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