Switzerland

Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United States and the United Kingdom are the top five global innovative economies, according to the Global Innovation Index 2017, released today.

“Innovation Feeding the World” is the theme of the Global Innovation Index 2017 (GII 2017), the tenth edition of the index, which was presented today at a press briefing at the United Nations in Geneva. The Global Innovation Index 2017 (GII 2017) is co-published by the Cornell University, the European Institute for Business Administration (INSEAD) and the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Zurich gets a new museum. The ‘Swiss Finance Museum’ will open on 28th June and it will be located at the new head office of Six in Pfingstweidstrasse 110.

The ‘Swiss Finance Museum’ will offer visitors a new multimedia exhibition illustrating the origins of our economic system as well as the major significance of the financial market and its infrastructure for our everyday life. The exhibition focuses on stock exchange trading, the capital market, financial instruments, payment transactions and technical objects, demonstrating the exemplary innovation of the financial industry

The Swiss National Bank kept interest rates unchanged at record lows, citing the strong currency and an absence of price pressures and the SNB held its deposit rate at -0.75%. It also affirmed its commitment to wage currency market interventions and reiterated that the franc was “significantly overvalued.” Consensus forecasts were for an unchanged policy.

The 2017 edition of Art Basel is a welcome distraction from the doom and gloom that has dominated the headlines throughout Europe and the world in recent months. The art world’s elite collectors were reaching deeper into their pockets this year than they have for at least the past two editions of the fair. Just hours into Tuesday’s VIP preview, many dealers were reporting multiple sales in the seven- and eight-figure range-a welcome reappearance of a phenomenon that had been rare at art fairs since the market’s most recent peak in 2014.

Stonehage Fleming, a London-based wealth management company, has acquired Zurich-based art management and advisory business OmniArte.

The business was bought for an undisclosed sum. It will be absorbed into the Stonhage Fleming art management division, which counts clients’ assets at around $43bn and founded its arts arm in 2007 to advise on issues such as succession planning and insurance. As part of the acquisition, Maria de Peverelli becomes executive chairman of the art management division.

The vacation apartment market in Switzerland has lagged that of Austria and France in recent years. Residential property prices have stagnated in the Alpine tourist destinations here since 2011. The strong franc has weakened domestic and foreign demand. At the same time, the success of the second home initiative has led to a building boom in the Swiss Alps, so that average vacancy rate has almost doubled in recent years.

A new tax agreement between Ticino and Italy will not obliged italian cross-border workers, known as frontalieri, to systematically provide a copy of their police record in order to secure a work or residence permit.
The requirement was imposed by the Italian-speaking canton in 2015; now, they will be expected to show any criminal record on a voluntary basis, while the canton will reserve the right to ask for it, as Ticino’s government said in a statement.

Swiss agriculture company Syngenta, which is in deal to be bought by China National Chemical Corp., known as ChemChina, announced Friday that it has entered into an agreement to sell global Sugar Beet seeds business to DLF Seeds. Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

The transaction is subject to customary approval requirements and expected to close by the end of the third quarter of 2017. DLF Seeds is a seed company dealing in forage and turf seeds, and other crops.