Echo

Happy retirement in Switzerland

Switzerland, Norway and Iceland are the countries offering the best quality of life worldwide for pensioners. These are the findings of the latest global retirement index drawn up by French bank Natixis. Switzerland has thus successfully defended its second place behind Norway. Eight of the top ten countries in the index are in western Europe. New Zealand, the best-placed non-European country, was ranked fifth behind Sweden.

CHF 100 for payments abroad

UBS has decided to charge transaction fees of 100 francsfrom 1 October onwards for certain types of payment orders from Switzerland to accounts abroad. This will affect non-standardised orders submitted by post, email or telephone. UBS charges 60 francs for such payments domestically. Consumer protection organisations say the bank wants to use the fee hike to increase its revenues in order to offset currently low interest rates.

New exports record in the first six months

Swiss companies sold more abroad than ever between January and June of this year. Exports rose by 4.4 %. The pharmaceutical and chemical sector was the main factor driving exports to a new record high of 109.6 billion francs. According to the Federal Customs Administration, chemical and pharmaceutical products accounted for two thirds of the increase. Exports of medicines and active ingredients climbed 7 % to a new record high.

No priority for Swiss nationals in Neuchâtel

The Neuchâtel section of the SVP has withdrawn its Swiss-first initiative “Les nôtres avant les autres”. This proposal by the cantonal section of the SVP was based on the “Prima i nostri” campaign in Ticino. The initiative, which was launched in February, was withdrawn before the 21 August deadline for the collection of signatures. The cantonal section realised it was very unlikely that it would gather enough signatures by the deadline.