Switzerland

The Master’s in Management (MiM) degree is a good way to increase your salary and gain an edge over competitors in your first job search after college. The MiM is a pre-experience program largely taken by those fresh out of undergraduate courses.

Each year since 2004, the Financial Times has ranked the world’s best MiMs, this year on metrics such as salary increase, career progress, and value for money. On Monday, the FT released its latest ranking of the world’s 95 best MiM degrees. Switzerland’s University of St Gallen retained its top spot, the seventh consecutive year its MA in Strategy and International Management has come first. HEC Paris is in second place for the fourth year on the trot, while Spain’s IE Business School rose four places to third.

Beginning January 2018, Chiasso, Switzerland will allow its citizens to pay taxes in Bitcoin, following the lead of Zug. This news came on Thursday thanks to an executive note published by the municipality of Chiasso. The city likely aims to surpass its rival Zug, also known as the CryptoValley, by accepting Bitcoin as a method of payments for taxes for a value of up to 250 CHF, versus the 200 CHF limit imposed by Zug.

Big profits from the Swiss National Bank’s massive foreign currency investments should help keep the country’s public finances in the black during 2017, Switzerland’s government said on Thursday.

Interest and dividend payments from investments bought by the SNB during its campaign to weaken the highly-valued Swiss franc allowed it to hand over some 577 million Swiss francs ($605.52 million) to federal government this year. The country’s 26 cantons, or states, have received just over 1.1 billion francs.

Falcon Private Bank, a Swiss private banking boutique, has appointed Martin Keller as its chief executive officer, taking over from Walter Berchtold, effective on Wedsneday.

The bank’s chairman Christian Wenger has also announced that he will step down. His successor will be appointed in due course.

On Monday, Israel and Switzerland signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at increasing their relations in the financial services sector. The document was signed in Tel Aviv by Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and Ueli Maurer, the head of Swiss Confederation Federal Department of Finance.

The Ministry of Finance stated, "Israel and Switzerland have signed a letter of understanding for extensive cooperation in the financial services sector." At the same time, sources said that the Israel Securities Authority was promoting an extension of the dual listing arrangement for Israeli companies to Hong Kong and Singapore.

Switzerland’s economy grew at a slower pace than expected in the three months to June as growth provided by the financial sector and hotels was offset by “sluggish” growth for trade and public administration.

Gross domestic product grew 0.3 per cent quarter on quarter in the three months to June, according to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, coming in below economists’ estimates compiled by Reuters of 0.5 per cent growth.

Novartis announced that its Chief Executive Officer Joseph Jimenez has informed the board of directors of his desire to step down in 2018. The company’s board has appointed Vasant Narasimhan, its Global Head of Drug Development and Chief Medical Officer, to the position of CEO, effective February 1, 2018. Narasimhan is a member of the Executive Committee.

Swiss banks’ overall operating income fell last year for the fist time since 2012, Switzerland’s banking lobby said on Thursday, as the Alpine nation’s lenders grapple with negative interest rates and rising regulatory costs.

Switzerland’s banks, already hit by a clamp-down on tax evasion which has dampened the country’s position as a tax haven, saw aggregate operating net income fall 3.2 percent in 2016 to 62.5 billion Swiss francs ($65.1 billion).

"2016 was once again a difficult year for the banks in Switzerland," the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) said while publishing its annual banking study.