Reuters reported Switzerland is formally considering the possibility of a state-backed cryptocurrency. Its government has asked legislators commission a study on the pros and cons of a Swiss “e-franc.”
The Council of the European Union announced Tuesday that the EU has amended its blacklist of jurisdictions that it deems uncooperative in tax matters, removing eight jurisdictions from that list.
EU finance ministers removed eight ‘entities’ – countries and territories – from the tax havens blacklist, while ruling out more transparency or sanctions.
Switzerland has moved a step closer to breaking free of the European Union (EU) after the government allowed proponents of a campaign to curb immigration to start canvassing public support for a referendum.
The country is not a member of the EU but currently has open borders with the bloc as a price for access to the Single Market. However, the populist Swiss Freedom Party (SVP) have been pushing for a referendum on the matter.
Last week the government published the full list of people who were granted Maltese citizenship during 2016, including those who had purchased their citizenship through the Individual Investor Programme (IIP).
Under the IIP, high-net worth individuals can obtain Maltese, and therefore EU citizenship, against a fee of €650,000, as well as €150,000 in government bonds and a €350,000 investment in property. A physical presence is not required for applicants to prove residency.
The EU has declared there is still "no white smoke" over a Brexit deal and handed Theresa May a 72-hour deadline to make an acceptable offer. Michel Barnier has informed EU member states that Britain has just 48 hours to agree on a potential deal on the first phase of Brexit talks for talks to move onto trade and transition before 2018.
Switzerland said Thursday it will provide more than a billion dollars in development aid to the European Union, as Bern seeks to stabilise its messy ties with Brussels.
The 1.3 billion Swiss francs ($1.32 billion, 1.1 billion euros) will be spread over ten years and will target lower income countries in central and eastern Europe, a statement said. The funds are "intended to reduce economic and social disparities in Europe, which is in Switzerland’s economic and political interest", it said.
Switzerland has once again taken the top spot in the World Talent Ranking, an annual rundown of the ability of countries to attract, develop, and retain top-performing staff.
Published on Monday by the IMD Business School in Lausanne, the report analyses over 60 countries according to various criteria important to professional workers, and finds that Switzerland comes out top overall for the fifth year in a row.
According to a global study, terrorism-related fatalities fell for a second year in 2016, even though more countries in the West were affected by the shift in tactics toward so-called “Lone Wolf” attacks.
The fifth annual Global Terrorism Index, developed by the Institute for Economics and Peace think tank, showed that deaths from terrorism fell 13% to 25,673 last year, and were 22% lower than the 2014 peak.
