Switzerland

SNB: foreign reserves jumped another time

With the reliability of a finely-tuned watch, the latest release of foreign-currency reserves held at the Swiss National Bank has shown yet another record, in a sign the central bank continues to swim against the tide. The foreign exchange reserves jumped by nearly 15 billion Swiss francs ($14.93 billion) in March.

The SNB held 683.181 billion francs worth of foreign currency at the end of March, compared with 668.332 billion francs in February, revised from an originally reported 668.18 billion, preliminary data calculated according to the standards of the International Monetary Fund showed.
The franc fell to about 1.07 francs to the euro after the data release, which followed news of U.S. missile strikes against an airbase in Syria that prompted inflows into assets considered safe havens.

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EU and Switzerland restart to talk over bilateral deals

The EU and Switzerland agreed on Thursday to reopen talks on upgrading trade and political ties, following Bern’s retreat last year on a controversial immigration quota that highlighted the difficulties Britain will face over Brexit.

At a press conference in Brussels, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that both sides had agreed to conclude a new framework agreement by the end of the year.

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Italy investigates over Credit Suisse unnamed bank accounts

The Italian Tax Agency Revenue compiled a list of possible tax evaders. After 750 Italian papers identified in Panama, there’s other special surveillance: 3,500 Credit Suisse clients who signed life insurance policies (known as polizza mantello in italian) and numbered bank accounts.

Rossella Orlandi, Director of the Agency, has announced on Thursday to send very soon to Swtizerland collective requests for taxpayers who didn’t seize the opportunity offered by the first voluntary disclosure and didn’t comply with the tax authorities.

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Switzerland stopped French investigations over Falciani files

French magistrates are investigating 26 individuals or institutions suspected of hiding huge sums of money in tax havens through Panama, the Seychelles, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Singapore. Tax authorities are looking into 416 suspected tax dodgers in an inquiry sparked by last year’s Panama Papers revelations, according to Le Monde newspaper.

The investigators are part of an elite white-collar crime unit set up following revelations that then finance minister Jérôme Cahuzac had dodged tax through a secret Swiss bank account.

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Tourism: Spain the best country, Swiss Alps slide in the ranking

In a new study of tourist-friendly countries released Thursday by the World Economic Forum (WEF), European economies dominated the top-10 rankings, with Spain leading the pack, indicating the region was well placed to attract overseas visitors and create tourism jobs.

France took second place, followed by Germany, while the U.K. placed fifth, Italy ranked eighth and Switzerland was tenth.

The Alpine country lost 4 positions referred last survey in 2015. The Swiss index of tourism competitiveness stood at 4.9 on a scale that goes from 1 to 7, while two yeras ago, it was equal to 5 points. Switzerland lost ground (43rd position), especially in the exploitation of natural resources, while it remains the number one in the global ranking relative sustainable environment.

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Italy: Diplomacy on the ground over Swiss closed borders

Switzerland and Italy are in a diplomatic spat over Switzerland’s decision to close three border crossings at night in a bid to fight crime.

The Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned the Swiss ambassador for urgent talks Tuesday, emphasizing that the closings violate Europe’s norms on free circulation. Switzerland, unlike Italy, is not a member of the European Union but has signed up to the passport-free Schengen zone and free movement of persons accords.

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Swiss watchdog FINMA: it isn’t game over for 1MDB investigations

Swiss financial body FINMA said on Tuesday it had discontinued its investigation into UBS Group in connection with Malaysia’s scandal-tainted 1MDB fund. "FINMA recently discontinued its investigation into UBS. FINMA found no systematic, serious misconduct, but sent the bank a written reprimand," the swiss watchdog wrote in a statement following its annual media conference.

Three cases remain unresolved, Finma added in a statement. A case against UBS was closed recently and the bank, Switzerland’s largest, was reprimanded with no further action to be taken, the watchdog said.

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Syngenta-ChemChina: merger is OK for US antitrust

US regulators have agreed to a Chinese conglomerate’s proposed $43 billion acquisition of Swiss agribusiness giant Syngenta on condition it sells some businesses to satisfy anti-monopoly objections.

China National Chemical and Switzerland’s Syngenta have agreed to divest three types of pesticides in order to win U.S. Federal Trade Commission approval for their $43 billion merger, the largest ever overseas acquisition by a Chinese company. A U.S. national security panel cleared the deal in August 2016, despite concerns among some lawmakers and farmers about China’s influence in U.S. food production.

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