Switzerland

Chinese conglomerate HNA, under scrutiny at home and abroad over a debt-fuelled acquisition spree, gave partially untrue or incomplete information during the takeover of Swiss airline catering firm Gategroup last year, the Swiss Takeover Board said.

In a statement late on Friday, the regulator said the aviation and shipping group had failed to disclose that company executives held controlling stakes in the conglomerate and also gave incorrect shareholdings for the top two stakeholders – Bharat Bhise and Guan Jun – in the Gategroup offer prospectus.

Thomas Jordan, the chairman of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) spoke out on cryptocurrencies on Thursday. Speaking at an event in Basel, Jordan, who also chairs the international Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group, said that central banks are eyeing the issues of cryptocurrencies "very intensively," adding, "I would look at them more as an investment than a currency."

According to Reuters report, Jordan noted: "It is important to say it is not question of technology, but a question of who has access to central bank money and in what form. There are up to now many unsolved questions."

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.

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.

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.

Credit Suisse is considering spreading its trading, investment-banking and wealth management activities across several European locations after Brexit, «Bloomberg» reported, citing three sources on condition of anonymity.Switzerland’s second-largest bank is considering moving the activities affected by Brexit to a number of European cities, instead of replacing London with one large alternative location.

Recent moves by the U.S. Federal Reserve to tighten its monetary policy is helping the Swiss National Bank in its campaign against the “highly valued” Swiss franc, SNB Governor Andrea Maechler said on Thursday.

Interest rate rises announced by the Fed “mean the interest rate differentials between Switzerland and other countries may widen further in the future,” Maechler said. This would make the Swiss franc less attractive to investors, reducing the value of the currency, whose strength has hampered Switzerland’s export-reliant economy.

BVK, the CHF31.8bn (€27.8bn) pension fund for the canton of Zurich, has opened itself up to manage pension plans for employers across the rest of Switzerland. Taking on new schemes would benefit BVK’s risk profile and member structure, it said. It would only accept new joiners if this were in the collective interest of BVK’s existing members and affiliated employers.