Switzerland

MarketPlus went in search of the Swiss incubators for startups. Here is the first, Kickstart Accelerators, working in the field of FinTech, Food, Smart Cities, Robotics & Intelligent Systems, EdTech and Healthcare. Patricia Schlenter, Program Manager, explained us how it works.

«Kickstart Accelerator invites 50 startups from all over the world for 11 weeks to Switzerland where they are provided with coworking space, seed funding as well as direct access to leading corporate partners, investors and experts. Moreover, they get a chance to win up to 25`000 CHF of grants. Throughout the program, the startup founders join well-structured workshops and receive high-quality mentoring. Moreover, Kickstart Accelerator provides startups with the possibility of attaining a proof of concept with one of the corporate partners.

The Michael Page Swiss Job Index recorded an increase in advertised jobs of 1.2% between May to June 2017. During the period from March-June 2017 the number of advertised jobs grew 4.4%. The increase in advertised jobs was led by the Swiss plateau which showed a monthly increase of 3.1% in June.

According to Michael Page, the increase in the number of jobs posted was driven by the transportation, logistics and supply chain category, with year-on-year growth up to 33.6% and a monthly growth of 9.2%, depending on the position. The IT sector also continued its growth, with systems specialist positions posting an increase of 52.8% year-on-year and 6.6% between May and June 2017.

Indonesia and Switzerland have signed a joint declaration on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (AEOI) yesterday. The signing was held at the Directorate General of Tax in Central Jakarta.

At the signing ceremony, Indonesia was represented by Director General of Tax for the Finance Ministry Ken Dwijugeasteadi and Switzerland was represented by its Ambassador to Indonesia Yvonne Bauman. The signing was witnessed by Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

Swiss pensioners should be given the option to draw down higher levels of pension income on a time-limited basis, according to Willis Towers Watson. According to consultancy, the best option is the portion of pension savings capital that exceeds the minimum cover prescribed by law.

It proposed the model in response to falling conversion rates, which are used to calculate how much pensioners can take as income from their pensions every year. It was pitched as a means of alleviating pressure on pension providers and offering flexibility and fairness for pensioners.

Banks in Switzerland saw their profits nearly halve to CHF 7.9 billion in 2016 amid continuing global pressure on their famed secrecy walls. Surprisingly, the overall customer deposits, domestic as well as foreign, rose in Swiss banks.

The staff count, however, was down, as the number of banks, which declined again last year, from 266 to 261, for the fourth year in a row. While two new banks came up seven moved out from the list, as per the annual statistics released today by Zurich-based Swiss National Bank (SNB), the country’s central banking authority.

In June 2017, the KOF Economic Barometer rises by 3.5 points (from revised 102.0 in May) to 105.5. It thus largely recovers from the substantial decrease in the previous month. Accordingly, the short-term outlook for the Swiss economy suggests above-average growth rates.

Monaco, the home of the Grand Prix, was by far and away the leader of cities with millionaires as some 30.6% of people living in the city have a net worth over $1m, according to Business analysis service Verdict and GlobalData WealthInsight. The study calculated millionaire density based on the percentage of residents with assets over $1m, excluding the value of the first home.

Geneva and Zurich ranked in second and third, but density was well under that of Monaco’s, with 6% and 5.2% respectively. They fell significantly on the previous year, however, when Geneva had 17.7% density and Zurich has 24.3%.

Trinidad & Tobago is the last remaining tax haven in the world, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The Paris-based body said the caribbean state is the sole "non-compliant" tax jurisdiction of a list of 15 regions it has complied, a statement many will view as controversial. It said that compared to last year, 13 jurisdictions have now become "largely compliant". Precisely, they are: Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Costa Rica, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, the Federated States of Micronesia, Lebanon, Nauru, Panama, Samoa, the United Arab Emirates and Vanuatu. According to the report, the Marshall Islands are "partially compliant".