Switzerland

FINMA, Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority, has shut down a cryptocurrency racket as part of its latest efforts to tackle digital currency fraud. Per its latest edict, FINMA’s victim was a fake cryptocurrency provider. It is at the same time pursuing as many as twelve other cases amidst an uptick of fraud in the country.

The action came less than a week after China unveiled its own harsh measures. In addition to a blanket ban on ICOs, China-based cryptocurrency exchanges must stop trading and notify users of their closure by month’s end.

Swiss prosecutors are trying to figure out why someone apparently attempted to flush tens of thousands of euros down the toilet at a Geneva branch of UBS Group AG.

The first 500-euro ($597) bills were discovered several months ago in a bathroom close to a bank vault containing hundreds of safe deposit boxes, according to a report in Tribune de Geneve confirmed by the city prosecutor’s office. A few days later, more banknotes turned up in toilets at three nearby restaurants, requiring thousands of francs in plumbing repairs to unclog the pipes.

Switzerland could become the latest country to ban facial coverings worn by some Muslim women after activists collected more than the 100,000 signatures required to put the proposal to a national vote.

A committee handed in the signatures to the Federal Chancellery in Bern for a people’s initiative on the issue. The federal authorities and parliament must now decide upon it, the Swiss News Agency reported.

Switzerland’s central bank on Thursday softened its longstanding warning about the strong franc but still said that it was "highly valued, " suggesting Swiss officials aren’t fully satisfied yet with the franc’s weakening against the euro.

"The Swiss franc nevertheless remains highly valued, and the situation on the foreign exchange market is still fragile," the SNB said in a statement after its quarterly policy review.

Indians seem to prefer Asian tax havens and not Switzerland, according to the bilateral foreign holdings data released by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), says an article in the Times of India.

Switzerland has always been infamous for storing most of the black money which is generated by evading tax. However, data suggests otherwise. About 53 percent of the offshore Indian wealth is kept in places within Asia such as Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Bahrain and Malaysia and only 31 percent of the Indians have their wealth stored in Swiss banks.

The Swiss federak price watchdog has initiated proceedings against Booking.com, hotel booking platform, after finding signs of “price abuse” concerning commissions that hoteliers have to pay in Switzerland.

During an investigation, watchdog Stefan Meierhans examined commissions paid by hoteliers to the site and found indications of abusive prices, news agency ATS reported on Tuesday.

Stanford University has been named the best university in the world for graduate employability for the second consecutive year, acccording to QS Quacquarelli Symonds, global higher education analysts and career advice specialists. The American institution is one of 13 United States of America universities in the top 25 of the QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2018, which assesses how successfully universities produce employable graduates and foster connections between students and employers.

Swiss luxury goods group Richemont has reported a 12 per cent rise in sales in the five months to August 31 in constant currencies, boosted by jewellery and strong performances in China and Hong Kong.