Switzerland

Swiss bank Swissquote is the first online bank to launch Bitcoin trading. The company is pioneering a new product for the brokerage industry, choosing to launch trading in the virtual currency without leverage. Now, clients will be able to exchange euros and US dollars into Bitcoin using their trading accounts.

The lack of leverage in Swissquote’s offering represents a great alternative to unregulated exchanges for clients of the Swiss brokerage. Demand for trading cryptocurrencies has been slowly picking up amongst retail traders in recent months. As the popularity of the new asset class has been growing, several retail brokers have started offering CFDs on Bitcoin.

In a major event for Swiss banking and Bitcoin generally, Falcon Private Bank became the first Swiss bank to begin offering customers direct access to their Bitcoin and altcoin portfolios. Through a partnership with Bitcoin Suisse AG, the bank is able to provide the necessary infrastructure to allow clients access to their coin holdings.

Wealthy clients of Swiss private bank Falcon will be able to store and trade bitcoins via their cash holdings with the bank from Wednesday, a move that signals the traction the virtual currency is gaining even in slow-changing asset management.

Switzerland and France have smoothed over concerns which had blocked the exchange of tax data between the two countries, a boost to French efforts to pursue cash hidden from the taxman.

The way in which data sent over by Switzerland was used in a French legal case involving UBS, Switzer­land’s biggest bank, had raised concerns for the Swiss that the two countries had different understandings of their double taxation agreement (DTA).

DTAs are in place to try to prevent double taxation and also set the ground rules for administrative assistance in tax matters.

According to a report by Russell Reynolds Associates, Fortune 500 companies are keen to employ women as general counsel with 35 per cent of open general counsel positions filled by women last year. The increase is attributed to the need for in-house experience which companies now want, having previously hired one in three general counsel from top partner ranks in law firms. Women, who are still struggling to get on the equity partnership ladder, are turning away from law firms to corporate life. Within the last three years, 91 percent of women hired externally had in-house experience and 61 percent had been a general counsel.

Sweden is the Best Country to be an Immigrant, according to new analysis from U.S. News & World Report. Canada, Switzerland, Australia and Germany round out the top five. Part of the Best Countries report, the new ranking assesses the international perceptions of 80 countries, their immigration policies and economic data.

Eric Gertler, co-chairman of U.S. News and the New York Daily News, said that the experience of creating the best countries ranking showed them that many people view immigration as the most important issue in the world.

The Swiss National Bank’s foreign-exchange reserves, accumulated on a massive scale since 2012, dipped slightly last month to 693.5 billion Swiss francs ($721 billion), the SNB said Friday. The figures suggest the central bank has pulled back on its currency intervention efforts.

It was the second successive month, despite the central bank’s continued complaints about the effects of an “overvalued” franc.

Switzerland’s supreme court has dismissed an appeal by former FIFA vice president Michel Platini against his four-year ban for financial wrongdoing. The Swiss Federal Tribunal says the ban imposed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport "does not appear to be manifestly excessive."

Platini held little hope of gaining a victory from the Swiss court, according to a statement from the former UEFA president’s lawyers in Paris.

Switzerland’s unemployment rate remained stable in June, data from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs showed Friday.

The jobless rate held steady at seasonally adjusted 3.2 percent in June, in line with expectations. The rate fell 4% year-on-year, 5’524 less than one year ago.