Fixed income

In the third quarter of 2016 the employment has continued to grow in Switzerland, with a more moderate pace than in the previous quarter. The jobs have grown by 0.3% over the same quarter last year, to 4.918 million.

In the secondary sector, employment fell by 1.2% to 1.081 million. The decline affected both the manufacturing business (-1.1%) than that of the construction (-1.7%). In the service sector instead there was a growth by 0.7%, to 3,836 million, as reveals the employment barometer published on Tuesday by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).

The health sector (+ 2.6%) continued to advance, though not as in the previous quarter (+ 3.3%). Meanwhile the hotel industry and catering (-1.5%) and the one of financial activities and insurance (-1.0%).suffered a fall in employment.

Former British prime minister John Major believes there is a "credible case" for a second referendum on Brexit; he told guests at a private dinner in Westminster that departure from the EU must not be dictated by the "tyranny of the majority", The Times newspaper reported.
"I hear the argument that the 48% of people who voted to stay should have no say in what happens. I find that very difficult to accept," as The Times newspaper reported.

The "made in Switzerland" brand is increasingly used. The new "Swissness" legislation, which comes into force in 2017, does not change the trend: 95% of industrial enterprises do not foresee any change in the value creation process, according to research of the University of Applied Sciences HTW Chur.

The institute contacted 1000 companies active in the field of machinery and metallurgy, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), receiving 326 responses. The data analysis shows that despite the tightening of the rules, the use of the label "Swiss made" as a marketing tool will increase by 7% next year.

The cabinet has endorsed plans to impose a gender quota for boards and managements of listed Swiss companies as part of a wide-ranging legal amendment to be discussed by parliament.
The bill includes a minimum 30% quota for women on company boards and at least 20% for members of company managements. Over the issue Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga said “The cabinet agreed that rules are necessary.”

The discussions is coming up after last week, during UN committee in Geneva; the panel of experts said it welcomed Swiss progress since the last report in 2009. Overall, Switzerland needed to develop a ‘comprehensive national gender strategy’, it said.

Facebook has received a licence from the central bank in Ireland to operate a financial payments service, two years after applying for authorisation, according to the Sunday Business Post.

A subsidiary of the social media giant can now act as a payments provider and electronic money issuer, as well as provide credit transfers and remittance services across the EU, as a result of the regulatory approval. The company has been in the payments space for some time in the US.

UBS, Switzerland’s biggest bank, will increase the salaries of its employees in Switzerland up to and including the middle management by an aggregate 0.8%, the company said in a statement today.

"This overall result is the outcome of negotiations between employer and UBS employee delegations," the bank said in a statement.
The association of banking employees demanded an increase of 1.5% for 2017 and will not be happy about the decision by UBS, which acts as trendsetter for the industry.

Zurich Insurance Group said Thursday it aims to boost profit and save about $1.5 billion over the next few years by cutting costs under its recently-installed chief executive Mario Greco.

The Zurich-based insurer also said it plans to maintain an annual dividend of 17 Swiss francs ($16.95).
The new plan replaces a previous goal to save at least $1 billion by the end of 2018. Zurich Insurance will also target a payout ratio of 75 percent of net income after tax, the firm said in a statement on Thursday.

Volkswagen AG is expected to announce a sweeping restructuring of its embattled VW passenger car brand that includes up to 30,000 job cuts over the next five years and a shift toward electric vehicles and new digital mobility businesses, a source told Reuters Friday.

The announcement is expected to come later in the day at a news conference. It foresees €3.7 billion ($3.9 billion) in annual savings at VW’s namesake brand, which will involve 23,000 job cuts in Germany alone, another source said.