Personal Finance

Switzerland’s consumption indicator remained broadly unchanged in October but suggested that private spending is growing at a solid pace in the fourth quarter, the UBS investment bank said Wednesday. The indicator inched up to 1.54 points in October from revised 1.51 in September.

New passenger car registrations and domestic tourism improved in October. By contrast, the index of consumer confidence measured by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs stagnated. In October it was -2 points, virtually unchanged from the previous quarter’s -3.

Digital currencies may be getting all the buzz these days, but notes and coins still reign supreme in most of Europe. Cash made up around 79 percent of everyday payments across the euro area last year, according to a European Central Bank study. Almost a quarter of consumers also kept some cash at home as a precaution, and 20 percent said they had a high-denomination note – 200 euros ($237) or 500 euros – in their possession in the year before the survey was conducted.

He’s the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, raking in millions from a company you’ve probably never heard of. John Collison is the co-founder of Stripe Inc. with his brother Patrick. Founded in 2011, Stripe is not widely known because it doesn’t sell anything that consumers can buy. Instead its software systems enable companies around the world to more easily accept online payments and run their websites.He also serves as company president. With more than 100,000 global customers, last year it announced a new round of funding that valued the company at $9.2bn. The two started coding in outside the Irish city of Limerick in the 1990s. Their parents had to buy a satellite so the two could access the internet.

Large natural catastrophe losses in 2017 and current low prices are expected to push up pricing in non-life insurance and reinsurance, according to Swiss Re Institute’s Global Insurance Review 2017, and Outlook 2018/19 report.

The string of natural catastrophes in the second half of 2017, including hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, earthquakes in Mexico, and wildfires in California, could cost the industry an estimated US$95 billion and lead to a combined ratio in the U.S. property and casualty insurance sector during 2017 of 109 percent, up from 101 percent in 2016.

Investing in the stock market has been shown to be the most efficient and effective way of turning money into more money, and yet 61 percent of millennials say they’re afraid of getting started. Overcoming that fear, though, could pay off. Just look back 10 years.

Financial website How Much took a look at some popular stocks in 2007 to find out how much a $1,000 investment in each would be worth now, as of October 31.

A consortium of nine large companies – including UBS, Credit Suisse, Swisscom, Swiss Post, SIX, Raiffeisen, Swiss Railways, Zuercher Kantonalbank and Mobiliar – will enable Swiss consumers to use a single digital identity when making eCommerce purchases.

The aim is to let people use just one login profile to order in shops, buy train tickets or do banking transactions, According to a report in Reuters The group aims to create a joint venture in 2018.

A London-startup headed by a Credit Suisse veteran is launching a new debit card that it claims will allow people to spend cryptocurrencies across the UK. The London Block Exchange (LBX) launched on Tuesday. It plans to launch a sterling-to-cryptocurrency exchange and a prepaid Visa debit card, dubbed "Dragoncard," that will allow people to convert bitcoin, ethereum, ripple, litecoin and monero to sterling and spend it across the UK. The startup plans to add more cryptocurrencies in future.

The latest OCED “Health at a Glance” report 2017 has found that countries that have a higher national income that spend more on health have longer life expectancies compared to those who do not. However many other factors also contribute to life expectancy, the report finds.