Tag Archives: Switzerland

Swiss voters reject world’s highest minimum wage, block fighter jets

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“Swiss voters on Sunday rejected proposals to introduce the world’s highest minimum wage and spend $3.5 billion buying new Gripen fighter jets from Saab.  About 76 percent of voters in the wealthy nation dismissed the proposal made by Swiss union SGB and backed by the Socialist and Green parties for a minimum wage of 22 Swiss francs ($25) per hour, final results showed.  Some 53 percent blocked a plan to replace Switzerland’s aging fleet of fighter jets with 22 Gripen jets from Saab. Just over 55 percent of those eligible voted, the government said.”

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-swiss-vote-20140518,0,1797001.story

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Should We Really Put Gold in an IRA?

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“Until now, foreign gold storage for IRAs, while available for US investors, has been a tedious process, with the setup requiring a good deal of time, paperwork, and expense. However, the Hard Assets Alliance just announced that its vault in Zurich, Switzerland can be used to store Gold Eagles (only) in an IRA with the same ease and convenience of a US IRA. This gives us an international storage option for our gold—and in one of the strongest jurisdictions to boot.  This is a breakthrough offering in the industry—one you won’t find elsewhere. The minimum for this vault is $10,000 (the Hard Assets Alliance only requires $5,000 for US storage).”

http://www.internationalman.com/articles/should-we-really-put-gold-in-an-ira

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Luxembourg uses veto power to kill EU tax haven crackdown, for now

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“European Union finance ministers failed once again Tuesday to agree on a sweeping new policy to fight tax evasion because of resistance from Luxembourg, a tiny country that long has prospered from a secretive banking culture.  EU Taxation Commissioner Algirdas Semeta said their failure was disappointing because the legislation proposing an EU-wide automatic exchange of data on bank deposits would allow governments to ‘identify and chase up tax evaders.’  Luxembourg, a duchy of barely 500,000 people, was able to shelve the legislation for the 28-nation bloc and its 500 million citizens because the decision required unanimous approval at Tuesday’s meeting in Brussels.”

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/luxembourg-kills-eu-tax-haven-crackdown-1.2569871

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$250,000 stuffed in pantyhose…and other IRS evasion tricks

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“Bankers helping customers buy gold bars to store in Swiss bank safes. A wealthy customer who traveled on flights hiding $250,000 in pantyhose to stash in Swiss accounts.  U.S. prosecutors say they have evidence like this to support their case that bankers at Credit Suisse Group helped U.S. customers evade taxes on at least $4 billion in hidden assets.  People familiar with the talks say Credit Suisse has discussed a settlement of about $800 million.  But some U.S. officials are pushing for a tougher line. Eight Credit Suisse bankers have been charged, and all remain at large, believed to be in Switzerland.  In all, 14 Swiss banks are under criminal investigation.”

http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/20/news/credit-suisse-tax-evasion.cnnw/

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EU neighbours regret Swiss vote for immigration quotas

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“The vote invalidates the Swiss-EU agreement on freedom of movement.  German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the vote would cause ‘a host of difficulties for Switzerland’.  France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said ‘it will hurt Switzerland to be inward-looking’.  In a statement, the European Commission said the Swiss vote ‘goes against the principle of free movement of persons between the EU and Switzerland.  The EU will examine the implications of this initiative on EU-Swiss relations as a whole.’  Mr Fabius told French radio it was bad news ‘both for Europe and the Swiss’. Europe ‘was going to review its relations’ with Switzerland, he added.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26116648

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Average Swiss wealth hits record high in dollar terms

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“The average Swiss adult is worth a world-beating $513,000 (CHF467,000), seeing off competition from Australia, Norway and Luxembourg, according to the 2013 Credit Suisse Wealth Report.  Average global wealth also established a new high at $51,600 per adult, the first time this has passed the $50,000 threshold since 2007.    Australia ($403,000), Norway ($380,000) and Luxembourg ($315,000) all experienced an increase in wealth per adult and retain their respective second, third and fourth places from 2012.  The United States, Sweden, France, Singapore, Belgium and Denmark are close behind, with average wealth per adult in the $250,000 to $300,000 range.”

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/Average_Swiss_wealth_hits_record_high.html?cid=37080808

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Chris Odom on OpenTransactions

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“Chris Odom, better known as Fellow Traveler, is the creator of the Open Transactions system. The utility of a system like Open Transactions recently clicked for me, which is a little funny because I’ve known about it for two years and actually interviewed Chris in 2013 on the topic. Once the lightbulb switched on I saw a little of what our future might look like with interoperable cryptocurrencies minus the centralized exchanges.”

http://letstalkbitcoin.com/chris-odom-on-opentransactions/

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Wikirating sponsors first Bitcoin ATM in Switzerland

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“Beside Slovakia and Finland, now Switzerland is the third country in Europe offering access to such an ATM to a broader public.  The Wikirating founder Dorian Credé and the Bitcoin-Blogger Christian Mäder want to make it easier for the public to get to know Bitcoin. In addition, with this campaign they want to motivate the politicians to create more legal certainty.  Inspired by Switzerland’s tradition of being headquarter of many international organizations, Credé and Mäder founded the World Bitcoin Association. The association is is not only open to all Bitcoin interested persons, but also to all worldwide active Bitcoin country organizations.”

http://worldbitcoin.info/wordpress/media-2/media-en/

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Swiss banks devise new ‘cash’ strategies for clients

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“As Swiss banks lose their secrecy tag, some bankers here are coming up with innovative ideas to lure rich clients from India and other countries by providing services like ‘cash courier’ as well as by offering large metal vaults to store currency notes, gold, artworks and other valuables.  Also on the platter is advice to put money in virtual currencies, especially in the wake of Bitcoin ATMs becoming operational in Zurich.”

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/business/swiss-banks-devise-new-cash-strategies-for-clients/articleshow/29152732.cms

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America’s Dwindling Economic Freedom

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“World economic freedom has reached record levels, according to the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom, released Tuesday by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. But after seven straight years of decline, the U.S. has dropped out of the top 10 most economically free countries.  Hong Kong continues to dominate the list, followed by Singapore, Australia, Switzerland, New Zealand and Canada. These are the only countries to earn the index’s ‘economically free’ designation.  The U.S. and the U.K, historically champions of free enterprise, have suffered the most pronounced declines. Both countries now fall in the ‘mostly free’ category.”

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303848104579308811265028066

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