BERN, SWITZERLAND -  The Swiss Federal Council unveiled two proposed new alcohol laws, one designed to reduce abusive consumption, Friday 27 January. Key points: no sales in shops or for carryout after 22:00, stricter advertising laws that will include online and mobile advertising, and a wider, cheaper range of non-alcoholic drinks aimed at the younger market.

The second takes the Swiss government out of the alcohol sales business completely, ending monopolies on spirits and opening  up the market. From the consumer’s point of view there won’t be a significant immediate change because a key policy, the tax on pure alcohol, remains unchanged, at CHF29/litre.

The new laws must be approved by parliament, but changes made to the hotly debated reform “night policy” could help it get through, the council says. An earlier version of the law was put out for consultation and several changes were made as a result.

The night policy ends all retail sales between 22:00 and 06:00, and bans any special offers such as 2 for 1 or happy hours, during the nighttime period. Protecting youth is part of the rationale, with bars and cafes considered better for managing excess consumption and binge drinking than dark corners or spots under bridges.

Bars will be obliged to offer at least three non-alcoholic drinks for prices that are lower than the house’s cheapest alcoholic drink.

Lifestyle and other incentive drinking ads will be banned everywhere, including online and in mobile advertising.

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A man with a gun held up two people in their 40s as they were closing their business Thursday evening 26 January at 18:30 on the rue de Margencel in Aigle. They gave him an undisclosed sum of money when they were threatened at gunpoint. He then fled and although police were alerted and immediately set up a manhunt, the man has not been found.

His description: he spoke French with an accent “from the East”; 170-175cm tall, thin, dressed in a white shirt with a hood and dark pants; tanned skin.

This is the fifth armed robbery in canton Vaud in one week, with the suspects on the loose in four cases. Police in Lausanne Thursday nabbed thieves who had broken into a Place ST Francois jewelry store at 12:30. A call from outside the store alerted police who arrived quickly and were able to force to the ground and handcuff  “several persons” trying to flee. One client inside the shop was slightly injured by a knife.

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – US pressure on the Swiss banking world appears to have claimed one more victim, with the announcement by St Gallen-based Wegelin, generally considered the country’s oldest bank, to sell most of its wealth management business to Raiffeisen in an effort to protect its employees and clients.

Wegelin one of 11 banks investigated by US, 2 countries finance ministers set deadline

The news comes just a day after Swiss President Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf told reporters in Davos that the US and Switzerland hope to conclude tax treaty talks by the end of 2012. She made her remarks after meeting with US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner at the World Economic Forum.

The discussions have been the subject of much media speculation, both for their timeline and a likely financial settlement, with some reports in late 2011 that Switzerland had proposed  amounts, information denied by the Swiss Tax Office to GenevaLunch.  Bloomberg/Business Week quotes the president as saying that “I have expressed that we’ve been in talks for a year, that we’ve invested a lot of time and energy to propose a fair solution,” adding that the two have discussed amounts and that “our aim, and he agreed, is to find a solution where we won’t be confronted with a question about the past every year.”

Reuters noted that the amounts are “possible fines [Switzerland's] banking industry will have to secure a global civil settlement with US authorities” and that Switzerland “is also trying to get the U.S. Department of Justice to drop criminal probes of 11 banks, including Credit Suisse and Julius Baer. “‘I assume we will be able to sort it out for these 11 banks as well as for the banking sector as a whole,’ she said.”

What next for Wegelin clients, staff

A statement issued by Wegelin and Raiffeisen says that “a substantial majority of clients and staff will be transferred to Notenstein Private Bank Ltd, which will become a 100% subsidiary of Raiffeisen for an undisclosed sum. This transaction enables Raiffeisen to substantially strengthen its position in wealth management. Wegelin & Co. Private Bankers will remain in existence to finalize the closure of all remaining US client relationships and to continue the negotiations with the US justice authorities.”

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GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Global Fund, which disburses monies from other organizations to fight Aids, malaria and tuberculosis, is celebrating its 10th birthday this week with a special gift: the Bill Gates Foundation, which gave $650 million during the Fund’s first decade, has just announced it is giving an additional $750m.

The news, announced by Gates at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, came a day after the Global Fund announced that Columbian Gabriel Jaramillo has been appointed general manager, a new position “intended to oversee a process of transformation as it accelerates the fight against the three pandemics by focusing on its management of risk and grants.” Jaramillo is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Sovereign Bank and he has more than 35 years in executive positions in the financial industry.

The gift is larger than the promised cash, for it is helping breath new life into an organization that went on the defense last year after corruption, which the Fund itself had uncovered and was investigating, was brought into the limelight by US media, notably the Associated Press, which is owned by US newspapers and is widely distributed there.

Jaramillo, although in a new position, replaces Michel Kazatchkine, executive director, who announced his retirement this week. The new general manager reports to the board and has full executive responsibility for the Global Fund.

Gates, in Davos, praised the group’s track record and commitment to improved oversight, noting that problems with misuse of funds happens if you’re doing business in Africa.

His remarks refer to changes that are the result of a 2011 review by what is called the High-Level, Independent Panel assigned to look at financial controls and oversights. It was headed by former US Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt and Botswana’s former President Festus Mogae. The board in November approved a “transformation” plan “to address the findings of the Panel, along with a new, ambitious, four-year strategy and decided to appoint a General Manager to oversee this transformation”.

The panel “recommended changes to risk-management, governance and oversight to ensure the institution manages donor resources as efficiently and safely as possible”, the Fund says in a statement.

The Guardian notes in its report on the changing of the guard that “the shock of the corruption revelations, which were pounced on by the US right, and the subsequent loss of confidence in the Fund – which led some donors to suspend payments – was an alarm call. . . What has happened now is a result of a determination that the Fund must not fail. An overhaul is underway, to ensure not just transparency but greater efficiency.”

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Rafael Nadal is back in form, at Roger Federer’s expense, with the former winning their Australian Open semi-finals match 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4Thursday morning 26 January, Swiss time. The match had some fine moments, but Federer failed to rise to the challenge at times, and at one point lost 11 straight points. But he also came to net 57 times and won 35 of those points.

In the end, it was Nadal’s increased aggressiveness that wore down Federer, who has not won a Grand Slam match against the younger player since 2007.

The pair have been playing another match in the background, according to the Australian Open, a feverish social media popularity competition.

Nadal now plays the winner of tomorrow’s match between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic.

Links to other sites: Australian Open, ESPN, Sydney Morning Herald

BERN, SWITZERLAND – Ireland and Switzerland announced Thursday morning 26 January that they have signed a protocol to amend their double taxation treaty, in the area of taxes on income and capital. Under the terms of the new agreement, which must be approved by both parliaments, each country can withhold up to 15 percent on gross dividend amounts, with some significant exceptions: if “a company holds a stake of at least 10 percent in the capital of the distributing company, the dividends will be exempt from withholding tax. Moreover, there will be no withholding taxes on dividends paid to the national banks of the two countries or to pension funds.”

The amendment also includes a OECD administrative assistance clause. Since the OECD insisted in 2009 that Switzerland revise its treaties to match OECD international standards covering judicial assistance in cases of tax avoidance, Switzerland has revised more than 30 double taxation treaties. Switzerland has proposed in some cases to maintain bank secrecy laws at home while helping other governments collect taxes by using withholding taxes that allow holders of assets to choose if they will declare their accounts in order to recover the tax at home, or not. Such agreements have been signed with France and Germany, but the European Union has said it opposes these on the basis that numerous bilateral agreements are not in line with EU rules.

Migros baby slippers: recalled for safety reasons

BERN, SWITZERLAND – Migros is alerting the public to blue and white baby slippers with a moose head decoration that it is recalling for quality problems: parts on the moose head can come loose and pose a safety risk to small children. The slippers have been sold since July 2010. Article number: 8923.023, price CHF12.90. Contact your nearest Migros to return them.

Bolder thieves: rush hour main street robbery in Rolle

Rolle, main street supermarket robbery Wednesday

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Armed robbers in the Lake Geneva region are getting bolder, with a supermarket hold-up on the main street of Rolle at 19:00 Wednesday night the latest example.

Two masked men broke into the Grand-rue store (police do not mention the Coop at that address specifically) at 19:00, after closing hours and “violently” threatened two of the four employees at gunpoint before making off with an undisclosed sum of money. The two, ages 26 and 30, were in shock but otherwise unharmed, say police.

Two other employees were not directly involved and there were no customers in the store at the time.

The thieves fled “in an unknown direction” and have not been found, despite a significant police search. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at +41 21 644 4444.

Description: 180-190cm tall for the first, both men of average build, wearing dark clothes, with one speaking French with a North African accent.

Valais thieves nabbed

Two thieves, ages 62 and 68, who live in France, were caught in the act of breaking and entering Monday 23 January at 23:00 in Evionnaz, canton Valais. Police were phoned after someone noticed suspicious lights on in an area business, on the Route du Simplon. The building was quickly surrounded and police caught one man attempting to leave the premises and soon found a second man parked at the train station. Stolen goods from three local businesses were found: money, cameras and cell phones.

The two have police records in France, Valais police note.

Vaud, 2 other armed robberies this week: hairdresser’s shop, bank machine client

Earlier this week Vaud police reported two holdups, one Wednesday in Payerne, where a hairdresser was robbed by a man with a knife just as she was closing, and the other a woman in Gland who had just taken money from a bank machine near the post office at midday.

The 44-year-old woman was robbed at gunpoint in Gland at 12:30 Saturday. His description: 20-25-year-old man, European in appearance, 175-180cm tall and thin, dressed in a black sweatshirt with hood, black scarf and gloves, black pistol. He fled in the direction of the train station and has not yet been found.

The Payerne hold-up was also carried out by a thin young man, 175cm in height, wearing dark clothes, speaking French with an accent that could not be identified. He fled the scene and despite a search with dogs and several police patrols, he has not yet been found.

Geneva police arrest 3 on several charges after Sunday night high-speed chase

Police in Geneva have three men, ages 19-23, under arrest following a high-speed chase late Sunday. All three reside in Geneva but are Kosovar, Serbian and Macedonian. The stolen car they were traveling in was spotted by police at the intersection of rue Lect and the routes du Nant-d’Avril and Satigny at 22:00. The driver of the car, instead of stopping when the patrol car put on its flashing lights, took off and led police on a high-speed chase. The car was finally stopped in Meyrin and the men taken into custody, where they admitted to a series of local crimes:

• the car was stolen 14 January when they were stopped by a police officer while they were stealing copper from a Lignon construction site; they escaped in the car, which the police officer managed to photograph, after one of them showed the office a Swiss passport, which turned out to be stolen
• the person whose passport was stolen reported it to Geneva police 16 January, showing a complaint filed earlier in Vaud: his house in canton Vaud had been broken into 3 January and he had filed a complaint with police there for the stolen passport and jewels
• the stolen car was reported by Vaud police in connection with unpaid petrol at a station in Yverdon 20 January
• two of the three held up a woman earlier Sunday evening, at a Vernier car wash, where one said he was a policeman and demanded her wallet; they then fled with the wallet, including her identity papers, which police found when they stopped the men. When they phoned the woman she said she had not yet had a chance to report the theft to police
• the man who had posed as a police officer admitted it and said that he had been driving the stolen car daily, without a license, and that on his own he had robbed a number of villas in Lausanne, Morges, Nyon and Fribourg.

©2012 Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A fight or an argument? Pushes and shoves or verbal abuse or just heated words? A Geneva judge will have the task in early February of deciding whose word to believe: Mark Muller, Geneva cantonal council member or the bartender at the Moulin dance hall, concerning what really happened in the early hours of 1 January. Cantonal Attorney General Daniel Zappelli will hear the arguments of both sides and decide if charges filed by the bartender should be pressed against Muller.

The bartender filed charges 6 January, saying that Muller had hit him. Muller denies this and he, in turn, filed charges against the bartender 12 January. Muller’s charges have not for now led to an investigation being opened, as is the case with the bartender’s charges.

Meanwhile, reports the Tribune de Geneve, Muller has had a case taken away from him and given to another council member, that of the Moulin à danses, near the old Jonction usine à gaz, which has to move to make way for Geneva’s new green neighbourhood, or éco-quartier.

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Police in Geneva have arrested a 78-year-old man in the Old Town of the city after he shot and wounded a young man at 04:30 Wednesday 25 January. The 28-year-old victim was hospitalized after being hit in the stomach by a bullet. The shooting occurred after a dispute over noise near a discotheque, with the elderly man shooting from the window of his apartment near Place des Trois-Perdrix.

Paul Richli will prepare report on SNB governance reform needs

BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss government is beginning a review of the possible need to reform governance of the Swiss National Bank. The cabinet Wednesday 25 January announced that it has asked Professor Paul Richli to draw up an external expert report that outlines “the tasks and responsibilities currently regulated in the National Bank legislation in connection with supervision of the SNB”. He will also look at the “constitutional room for manoeuvre in terms of possible amendments”, says the Federal Council.

Two federal offices, Justice and Finance Administration, have also been instructed “to submit a proposal for an additional mandate to examine corporate governance within the SNB more closely.”

An interdepartmental working group led by the Federal Office of Personnel has been asked to draw up recommendations for a uniform set of rules if necessary after examining”the existing code of conduct on the abuse of insider information in the Federal Administration”.

The moves come in the wake of the resignation of Philipp Hildebrand as chairman of the Swiss National Bank after a scandal involving family assets. Hildebrand was found innocent of wrongdoing, but the affair prompted widespread calls in Switzerland for a review of the regulations governing board members.

Richli is the rector of the University of Lucerne and he has held, since 2001, the chair of the department of public aw, agricultural law, and theory of drafting legislation at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lucerne.

Possible overheating in real estate: tighten mortgage requirements, gov’t told

Home sweet home in Switzerland: signs the market is overheating

BERN, SWITZERLAND – The OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) 2012 report on Switzerland, issued this week, cautions Bern against allowing consumer debt to build and warns that the real estate market may be overheating.,

The report’s overall assessment is that while Switzerland is weathering the eurozone crisis reasonably well, it remains at risk from the ongoing sovereign debt problems and economic stagnation in the region. The high Swiss franc will continue to pose problems for the export industry, the OECD notes.

“Exceptionally low” short- and medium-term interest rates are contributing to a mortgage boom and high real estate prices, the report states. Some areas are now showing signs of overheating, the report concludes. “Taking into account the high gross debt of households, the risk could increase, for small internal market banks, if there is a sudden rise interest rates.” Household debt in Switzerland is one of the highest in the OECD, it notes, although household wealth is “not negligible” taking into account assets held by the pension system.

Other key points from the report:

• The country’s two big banks, Credit Suisse and UBS, should be required to have higher leverage ratios than the 5 percent proposed by parliament, common equity should play a greater role and the reforms passed by parliament in 2011 should be implemented more quickly than the scheduled completion date of 2019. Parliament’s capital ratio of 19 percent has been praised as going beyond Basel III requirements for banks around the world, but the size of the two big banks in relation to the Swiss economy creates a risk that remains too high;
• Fiscal reforms would encourage economic growth; these should include a higher TVA (value-added tax) with broader coverage to consolidate growth and reduce distortion in the system. At the same time, the tax rate for individuals should be lowered, the OECD recommends, to encourage growth. Switzerland’s tax rates are modest on an international scale, but this is offset by the burden of mandatory health insurance and pensions.
• A number of measures are recommended to reduce CO2 in line with agreed limits by 2020; the OECD recommends an emissions tax on vehicles, saying this is a relatively inexpensive way for the country to reduce CO2 emissions, and it suggests peak traffic and congested area use taxes.

OECD report on Switzerland, 2012, in French, pdf

Aerial view of the Graubuenden resort Davos, where the World Economic Forum 2012 is meeting (photo: ©2012 WEF / www.swiss-image.ch, Andy Mettler

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Rich versus poor appears to be the emerging theme used by journalists covering this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos. The WEF opened Wednesday morning 25 January with 2,600 participants, mainly heads of state and ministries, and corporate leaders, with some 700 journalists in the wings. The official theme, unveiled a week ago, calls for a new face for capitalism.

This is the 42nd such annual gathering organized by the Geneva-based organization, and it remains the group’s key activity, even though it has branched into organizing other events and it publishes several reports, including the annual Global Competitiveness and Global Risks reports.

Angela Merkel opens the event official Wednesday afternoon.

Journalists have very limited access to the celebrity participants and partly as a result of this much attention was focused in the days leading  up to the event on protesters sitting outside, some of whom are living in Mongolian-style tents or igloos. Some but not all appear to be part of the Occupy movement that has protested against capitalism in a number of places in recent months, including near Wall Street in New York.

Reuters talks about the spirit of hope, while Al-Arabiya talks about the gloom; Bill Gates, for his part, is talking about his charity work.

Links to other sites, WEF opening coverage: Al-Arabaya, Aljazeera, BBC, CNN, New York Times, Reuters

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The long-discussed future home for the Geneva-Servette Hockey Club came closer to reality with the announcement Tuesday 24 January that it will be built on the Trèfle-Blanc site in the commune of Lancy. The canton, city and club jointly announced the news, saying that they have agreed with Lancy to undertake an in-depth feasibility study, which is being assigned to an international group of professionals, that will include the broader economic impact of the rink.

GSHC’s current rink is scheduled to be replaced by 2015.

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Rafael Nadal defeated Tomas Berdych Tuesday 24 January in the Australian Open, 6-7 7-6 6-4 6-3 , giving himself an invitation in the process to face off against Roger Federer in the semi-finals. Berdych made Nadal work for the win, which took 4 hours 16 minutes.

The Nadal-Federer match, with both players in top form, is Thursday morning Swiss time.

Federer for his part played his 1,000th match Tuesday morning and showed no signs that being 30 is slowing him down, commented TSR (Fr). He won solidly against Juan Martin Del Potro, 6-4 6-3 6-2.

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The first international meeting with experts from 15 countries to focus on the Arab spring and returning embezzled funds to Arab nations ended Tuesday afternoon 24 January in Lausanne with a call for greater coordination. The meeting was the sixth in the Lausanne Process, launced in 2001 by Switzerland’s Foreign Affairs Department to promote dialogue between countries affected by corruption and recipient countries of illicitly acquired assets.

The two-day meeting in Lausanne, in the run-up to the World Economic Forum in Davos, pulled in government representatives, specialists and advisors from international organizations to review “first lessons learned”, one year after the toppling of dictatorships in the Middle East began. Switzerland, which was the first country to freeze Tunisian leaders’ assets, 19 January 2011, said in September that the CHF60 million identified in Switzerland is only a small part of the billions hidden but that recipient countries will have to work closely to untangle the money trails.

Mitt Romney (photo, Gage Skidmore / Wikipedia)

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – US Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, whose estimated net worth is $190-250 million, has made  public more than 500 pages of tax records after losing the South Carolina primary over the weekend to Newt Gingrich, who accused the former financial investment manager of not coming clean about his wealth. It is the first-ever disclosure by Romney, even though he earlier served as governor of Massachusetts.

Media reaction today in the US to details of the Romney fortune and the couple’s tax record mentions financial accounts in the Cayman Islands and in Switzerland, but focuses on the fact that he is one of the wealthiest candidates ever for the top US office. The Caucas, a New York Times blog, notes that “The Wall Street Journal and financial wire services showed a vast array of investments from a recently closed Swiss Bank account to holdings in Bermuda to the Cayman Islands, all underscoring the breadth and depth of his wealth.”

The disclosure and debate over it are part of growing evidence that a hot presidential campaign topic will be fiscal reform and the disparity between what the rich and other people pay in taxes.

State of the Union address Tuesday night may focus on economic inequality

President Barack Obama will give his State of the Union speech tonight and, according to CBS News, “Economic inequality is emerging as a central theme in the battle for the White House, with Obama trying to harness populist anger at Wall Street and corporations against a backdrop of chronically high unemployment. He plans to call for higher taxes on millionaires in his State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday night, embracing an idea advanced by billionaire investor Warren Buffett and Occupy Wall Street protesters.”

Media references to the Swiss bank account are generally limited to implying that it is an indication of his wealth and noting that it was closed at the suggestion of political advisors. CBS News reports that “in a conference call with reporters, Brad Malt, Romney’s trustee, called the Swiss account ‘fully legal, fully disclosed’ but said it was closed in early 2010. He added: ‘The income earned on that account is taxed just as any other domestic or other bank account owned by the blind trust.’”

The news channel goes on to note that “pages and pages are devoted to foreign entities in which Romney is invested. Many are located in places like Luxembourg, Ireland and the Cayman Islands, all famous tax havens. None shows much income.”

Reuters, in an article widely picked up, writes 24 January, that “the emerging picture was of a man of great means who contributes mightily to charity. The documents showed he and his wife contributed $7 million in charity over the two years, much of it going to his Mormon church. That represents more than 15 percent of the Romneys’ income for those years”, more than the tax rate paid by the Romneys, with an

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Club increasingly international in its membership but retains American leader

AmClub's new president, Ed Karr

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Americans’ reputation for being dynamic and enthusiastic won’t suffer at the hands of Ed Karr, Geneva businessman and the new president of the American International Club of Geneva, which also calls itself AIC.

Karr, 42, is a partner in RAMPartners SA, an investment banking and investment management firm in Geneva, and he’s also known around town for his role as co-chairman of Republicans Abroad Switzerland.

He’s one of the youngest presidents in some years of the 60-year-old AIC, believed to be the oldest American club of its kind outside the US.

Karr is enthusiastic and realistic in equal parts about being a member of what he calls “the best business club in town” at a time when all clubs are feeling the pinch of global economic blues, being an American abroad during a period when the US is coming in for some heavy criticism, and enjoying the pleasures of an international life.

He is married to an Italian and has lived in Geneva since 1997. “We like the city, we like the lifestyle—we really like living here.”

“General specialist” at heart of Geneva’s fastest growing fields: trading, high tech, health care, energy

RAMPartners is a group of six people with backgrounds in institutional brokerage. “We’re independent. We’re general specialists. I know the markets, structures, how markets trade, relationships. We do a little due diligence and screening and we have several specialists available. I’m an expert at finding the experts.” He offers as an example a 3D bioprinting project that was introduced to him, technically capable of printing a new heart (and named one of the 50 best inventions of 2010 by Time Magazine). The project looked exciting, he says, “but I’m not a doctor so I call people I know who specialize in biomedical investments.”

The firm was set up in 2005 and it has helped raise more than $200 million for small capitalization companies in fields such as natural resources, high technology, health care and clean energy. Futures Magazine named Karr as one of the world’s Top Traders” in 2004.

Karr brings his business acumen and contacts to AIC’s leadership. The club itself has for some time reflected changes in the foreign population in the Lake Geneva region. Membership is down from a peak of 1,300 some years ago to 900 today. “It’s tough—all the clubs are struggling to survive,” he says, with declining membership, costs going up and sponsorship down.

Impact of Americans renouncing citizenship

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GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Two new wrinkles appeared Monday 23 January in Swiss media stories surrounding the resignation of Swiss National Bank Chairman Philipp Hildebrand. French-speaking Switzerland’s largest circulation newspaper Le Matin Dimanche yesterday picked up on vague suggestions that have been appearing in German-language media since early January that his wife Kashya, who is American, could have problems with US Fbar (Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts) forms.

And Monday the special commission assigned the task of seeing if Hildebrand respected the central bank’s internal regulations confirmed its 21 December findings: Hildebrand was cleared, although the broader issue of moral responsibility for his wife’s currency transaction profits at a time when he was leading Swiss monetary policy remained.

The former chairman resigned 9 January, saying that he could not prove beyond a shadow of a doubt, once and for all, that it was his wife who had made currency transactions called into question by a stolen copy of a bank statement.

The two-person commission mandated by the Federal Council, the director and vice-director of the Swiss Federal Audit Office, Kurt Grüter and Michel Huissoud, reported to the Swiss government cabinet last week that after reviewing evidence they had not had access to earlier, e-mail exchanges between Hildebrand and Banque Sarrasin, they confirmed their previous conclusion that the chairman had stayed within the rules of the SNB.

Hildebrand case provides Swiss political fodder

The Hildebrand resignation has remained in the limelight in Switzerland, largely because the major political parties have been meeting during the past week to prepare their strategies for upcoming popular votes. The information about Hildebrand’s wife’s currency deal was broken to media by Christoph Blocher, former head of the right-wing UDC People’s Party, who last week talked about the affair for the first time, in an address to the party’s annual meeting.

It turned out, after Hildebrand’s resignation, that the most damning document shown to media was in fact several patched together by a lawyer and politician who is close to Blocher.

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Drunk driver left scene of Montreux-Vevey accident; 78-year-old woman killed

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A 78-year-old woman died in hospital Saturday night 21 January shortly after an accident at 22:00 on the A9 autoroute between Vevey and Montreux, in the direction of Vileneuve. The lake side of the road was closed to traffic until 07:15 Sunday for the investigation.

The driver of the second car noticed the car ahead of him too late and despite braking hard he rear-ended the car violently, say canton Vaud police. The two cars ended up crosswise on the highway.

The victim, who lived in north Vaud, was driving a gray Toyota wagon, and police are looking for witnesses or anyone with information, in particular drivers who may have passed her car. She was taken to the Chuv university hospitals, where she died.

The man who crashed into her car is 26 years old, Portuguese and his driver’s license was already suspended. He fled the scene of the accident but turned himself in later. His alcohol level was measured at 1.08.

Anyone with information is asked to go to the nearest police station or to phone +41 21 644 4444.

Zurich company to help increase Unilever’s sustainability efforts

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Barry Callebaut and Unilever Monday 23 January signed a long-term partnership agreement that will double the cocoa and chocolate the Swiss-based company delivers to the Dutch-based consumer goods and foods producer. Barry Callebaut will invest CHF22 million under the terms of the agreement to ramp up to “provide 70 percent of Unilever’s global cocoa and chocolate products”.

Unilver is looking to ice cream products in particular to double sales while reducing environmental impact. The Zurich chocolate company has already helped build sales significantly with the Magnum ice cream line. Unilever has come under pressure, along with other multinationals, for its use of chocolate that is not certified Fair Trade. The company notes on its web site that “cocoa accounts for 4 percent of our total volume of agricultural raw materials. We buy 1 percent of global production, 95 percent of which is used in our ice cream, including in our biggest global ice cream brand Magnum and in Ben & Jerry’s.”

Monday’s press release from Barry Callebaut about the new partnership terms notes that “Barry Callebaut has also been working closely with Unilever to meet its sustainable cocoa sourcing commitments.”

CNN Friday 20 January ran a major investigative news background story on child labour in the cocoa industry, which has resulted in some calls for boycotting chocolate. As part of the network’s series, it contacted the chocolate industry for companies’ responses.

The Zurich company has been addressing the issue for some time and has considerable consumer information on the industry-wide problem.

Details of the deal were not revealed.

13-year high in car sales in Switzerland in 2010

New cars in Switzerland: December 2011 registrations were all-time record

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss Automobile Importers Association has come out firmly against Bern’s announcement last week that the autoroute sticker (road tax) price will jump from CHF40 to 100. Its argument, in aligning itself with truckers associations, is that some of the road tax money will be used to finance the country’s rail system starting in 2030, but the group also argues that the federal coffers have a reserve of 1.7 billion for roads and the tax should not be increased until this falls to CHF0.5 billion.

The rationale for the announced increase is to speed up road improvements that are needed as the number of cars on the road grows quickly. The importers association has just published figures showing that the past two years have seen a significant hike in the number of cars imported into Switzerland, which does not have a major car manufacturing company of its own.

The Swiss Automobile Importers Association notes that in 2011 the country imported and sold 318,958 and by comparison in 2010 the figure was 294,239 cars. The 2011 sales show a 10.6 percent increase in the past two years, with a year-on-year increase of 8.4 percent in 2011 alone.

Last year was the first in a decade when more than 300,000 new cars were registered in Switzerland and the only previous years when sales were higher  were 1988, 1989 and 1990. December 2011 is the best sales month that the importers association has ever recorded.

The association points out that new Swiss CO2 reduction regulations for cars go into effect in May 2012 and must be applied to all new cars registered as of 1 July 2012. The change aligns Switzerland with European Union regulations. The one exception is cars brough in from abroad that were registered abroad at least six months before they are imported.

KITZBUHEL, AUSTRIA – Neuchatel veteran Didier Cuche won his fifth victory on the legendary Streif course, breaking the record of Austrian hero Franz Klammer, 21 January. The downhill course was shortened by more than a third because of the amount of fresh snow and limited visibility but this did not prevent Cuche, who had announced just two days earlier that he would retire at the end of the season, from dominating. He already holds the record as the oldest skier to win a World Cup race. Austrian skiers took the next two places in the race. Beat Feuz, the Swiss winner of the previous race at Wengen, came in sixth to maintain his lead in the World Championship race.

Links to other sites: Swissinfo, TSR, Le Matin

Mountain roads alert – very icy

Pressure builds on the metre-high fence as more snow arrives in the Alps (here, at 1,100 metres)

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Snow again, and plenty of it throughout Swiss and French mountain regions. The roads were very icy Friday night and, very exceptionally, we needed chains at 800 metres, for the slippery surface rather than deep snow. Snow has been falling steadily since Friday afternoon and the wind has picked up from central to eastern canton Valais resort areas. Be sure to carry chains if you’re driving to the mountains.

Weather forecast

Snow expected through Tuesday in the Jura and the Alps, although Jura areas can expect it to turn to rain in the afternoons this weekend.

The snow line will move up and down between 600 and 1,400 metres and by Monday in canton Valais it will start to be drier, with intermittent sunshine and temperatures rising to 8C at lower altitudes.

Expect sunny slopes again Wednesday, says MeteoSwiss.

Ski report, Alps

Several lifts are closed Saturday morning due to a mix of snow and high winds, with local situations varying considerably. At 10:00 Saturday:

Crans-Montana  Entire area closed due to high winds; next update at noon Saturday.

Gstaad  Snowing and winds of 45kph and 32 of 57 lifts open. La Vidamanette and Glacier 3000 area closed.

Morgins  La Crete and La Tuche closed, but the rest of the lifts are open, 20cm of fresh snow; snowing.

Verbier  About 50 percent open, with Mont Forte and Gentiane closed. Winds at 15-35kph, snowing. Snow depth now at 330cm at Col des Gentianes.

Villars-Gryon  Mostly open but Glacier 3000 area closed and link to Diableret opening at 11:00, 30cm of fresh snow.

Zermatt  Three Furi lifts open but the rest closed. Snowing, but should end by afternoon, with snow Sunday morning and sun/partly cloudy weather in the afternoon.

Avalanche bulletin

Considerable risk, level 3, in most areas and notably for back country skiers and ski touring, although a large swath north of a line running from the Upper Goms Valley in canton Valais to Andermatt and over to Chur in canton Graubuenden has a high risk, level 4.

“The bonding of the new fallen snow and snowdrift to the surface of the old snowpack is generally unfavourable. The old snowpack is favourably structured far and wide. Particularly on the Main Alpine Ridge and in the Upper Engadine on north facing slopes above approximately 2500 m, the snowpack layers near the ground are weakly bonded. Numerous avalanche corridors are filled to the brim with snow or have been effectively obliterated by earlier avalanche releases,” reports the national avalanche research centre’s daily bulletin.

Jura ski resorts

by Shirley Curran

Conditions in the Jura resorts have been exceptional. The very cold weather has permitted the making of vast mounds of artificial snow at Crozet and Lélex to fill bare spots later in the season. Sadly, the long spell of clear cold weather broke on Thursday. Three or four days of snow and rain are now predicted. As usual you are encouraged to go to the website of MontsJura.com to see for yourself what the conditions are like on the slopes.