Swiss take cheese world championship first and second place, 2010 (photo: World Cheese Championship)
Madison, Wisconsin, USA (GenevaLunch) – Say “cheese” this week and the Swiss dairy industry will smile. Awards at the World Champion Cheese Contest in Wisconsin 18 March might provide a clue as to why the Swiss hold the world record for eating cheese. First and second place awards went to Swiss cheesemakers. Cheeses and butters from 20 countries participated in the bi-annual event, with 2,313 competitors’ products judged by an international team of 30 judges.
First place went to Cedric Fragniere, Emmi Kase AG in Kirchberg, Switzerland for his gruyère, with an overall score of 98.79.
Opening ceremony at BaselWorld (image, BaselWorld 2010)
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The world’s largest watch and jewelry fair opened Thursday 18 March in Basel. BaselWorld began on an upbeat note, with export figures released by the Swiss federal government the previous day showing watch exports in February alone rising 9 percent. The fair is fully booked, according to its managing director, Sylvie Ritter, with 1,915 exhibiting companies and nearly 100,000 international buyers.
And while BaselWorld to many equals watches, the jewelry business is in fact nearly as large, with watches taking up 62 percent of the exhibit space, jewelry 24 percent and related products the rest. The fair has 759 jewelry exhibitors and 592 watch exhibitors, from 45 countries.
BaselWorld runs to 25 March.
- Opening times: 09:00-18:00 (Thursday 25 March to 16:00).
- Tickets: CHF60 for the day
Producing Swiss Emmental cheese (image, Swiss Cheese Marketing)
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss are the world leaders in eating cheese and for 2009 the country set a new record for per person consumption, 21.4 kg. New 2009 figures from the Swissmilk show that in economically tight times the Swiss ate more, not less cheese, with consumption rising by 240g per person. The preference is for fresh, medium-hard cheeses.
Swiss cheese consumption 2009 (table, Swissmilk - click on image to view larger)
Those numbers are not as reassuring as the Swissmilk, the national milk farmers’ federation would like because foreign cheeses accounted for the increase, with Switzerland consuming 310g more of imported cheese, per person, and 70g less of Swiss cheese.
Appenzeller was the big loser, with consumption falling 10.5 percent, and Emmental was the big winner, up 7.5 percent. Switzerland Cheese Marketing will lead a country-wide publicity campaign to push the quality of Swiss cheese to consumers, starting in May 2010.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss exports were up 3.3 percent in nominal terms (-0.6 in real terms) in February, to CHF13.9 billion, and for the first time since 2008 they rose for most business sectors. Imports slipped and trade for the first two months of 2010 shows opposite trends, with exports up 1.3 percent but imports down by 2.4 percent. The balance of trade at the end of February was positive, at CHF1.3 billion.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland has been named Europe’s most innovative country by the European Union’s Commission for Enterprise, in its latest European Innovation Scoreboard, published 17 March. Switzerland was bumped up from second place, which it achieved in the 2007 rankings, with good growth in the several areas that are measured by the scoreboard. A key factor in its 1.5 percent growth rate was the rapid growth in 2009 of venture capital.
A sad Easter for the Lindt bunny?
Kilchberg, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss chocolate maker Lindt & Sprüngli AG has announced a drop in its net profit: in 2009 the company’s net profit was CHF193 million, a 26 percent drop from CHF265m in 2008.
Group sales fell, although by only 1.9 percent, in 2009 to CHF2.52 billion, from CHF2.57b in 2008.
According to Lindt’s financial report, published 16 March, “for the first time in 10 years, the overall chocolate market declined in volume,” which adversely affected the profit margin. However, the Group operating result (EBIT) stood at CHF264 million with an operating profit margin of 10.5 percent.
The company says it will continue its long-term profit targets.
Not-so gloomy forecast after all
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) is forecasting higher GDP (gross domestic product) growth and lower unemployment for 2010, even though the economy is still weak and might dip at some point during the year.
The new forecast sees GDP growth of 1.4 percent, double the forecast made in December 2009. Seco has also adjusted its unemployment forecast to 4.3 percent, down from instead of 4.9 percent.
Seco also counsels that other countries’ national and private debt could weigh unfavorably against the Swiss economy. “Countries with above-average growth could be facing appreciation of their currencies,” says the report. The report concludes that “another strong appreciation of the Swiss Franc towards the Euro could have a harmful effect on exports.”
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - UBS’a annual report, published Monday 15 March, stoked the fire under a debate in the lower house of Swiss parliament over limiting executive pay packages. Thirteen top managers at the Swiss bank were paid CHF68.7 million in 2009, of which nearly CHF55 was in the form of bonuses, and the bank spent another CHF41.3 paying former managers a mix of compensation.
The figures were nearly 10 times those for 2008, when the bank turned to the government for a bailout package.
The bank two weeks earlier, 1 March, announced losses for a third quarter running, and the details about payouts come just as the lower house of the Swiss parliament has been debating putting a cap on executive pay.
Herve Falciano recounted a saga of life in a thriller to Nice Matin newspaper but there is little evidence to back the story
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Europe’s largest bank made a startling confession, accompanied by an apology, to its clients 11 March: Britain’s HSBC said it had been given evidence by the Swiss Federal Prosecutor that a Geneva office employee stole data linked to 24,000 client accounts and tried to sell the information abroad. The employee, Hervé Falciani, had tried to flog that data to Lebanon in 2008. His failed attempt was the start of the unraveling of his theft scheme. Evidence of efforts by Falciani and a female companion for the first time linked his name to the theft, which the Swiss government had been investigating for several weeks.
Human factor is the real risk for an international company with secrets
It also drew attention to a significant problem for international companies that have any private data, from client information to research and development data: It takes a human being to steal for personal gain, so knowing staff well is as critical to security as a good IT system. Laws inside a country may protect corporate secrets and privacy, but once international boundaries are crossed the issue of countries not extraditing their own citizens can become an issue.
Thief, spy saga victim or honest whistleblower: Falciani’s many faces
Pierre Veya, Le Temps, new managing editor
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Le Temps, the main serious newspaper in French-speaking Switzerland, has named one of its own, Pierre Veya, editor-in-chief, after a three-month industry-wide search. Veya replaces Jean-Jacque Roth, who has held the post since 2002. Roth in February became head of a joint television-radio news team at Radio Television Suisse Romande (RTSR), created in January by the merger of public television and radio in the region.
Veya, age 49,will take up the new position 1 May 2010.
Veya received a graduate degree in business in Delémont, Switzerland, after which he worked at L’Impartial, covering the Jura and cantonal news. In 1989 he joined Swiss news magazine L’Hebdo, where he was responsible for the economy section.
More Swiss banking news:
- Swiss National Bank and Finma supervisory body will work more closely
- UBS says IRS has eyes on 20 Swiss banks
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss bank UBS has told Swiss German newspaper Tages-Anzeiger that it sent letters to several Swiss politicians early in the week to encourage them to approve an agreement between Bern and Washington, DC that now goes to parliament for a vote.
Falciani’s theft covered several months but it is not yet clear how he did it
[correction 13 March] Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The extraordinary under-assessment by HSBC of the number of bank accounts implicated in the theft of data from Geneva begins to make more sense when the timeline the bank provided to the press Thursday 11 March is studied. French authorities and then Swiss have been privy to the data for months, but the bank says its first credible clue about the scope of the theft came only one week ago, 3 March.
Hervé Falciani stole data linked to accounts of some 24,000 clients in Geneva, some 15,000 of whom are still clients, but the bank initially said only 10 accounts were involved. How he did it is still unclear and is under investigation by the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s office. Falciani is in hiding in France: France, like many countries including Switzerland, does not extradite its own citizens, which puts him out of the reach of Swiss investigators.
Timeline provided by HSBC
Background, GenevaLunch
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – HSBC, Europe’s largest bank, cleared up some of the confusion that has surrounded the 2008 theft of client data from its Geneva bank and apologized to its current customers at a press conference in Geneva Thursday morning 11 March. A total of 15,000 current clients, slightly less than one-fifth of its customer base of 100,000 clients in Switzerland, were affected when French employee Hervé Falciani, an IT employee, stole data over a period of several months during 2006-08, the bank acknowledged. It noted that the extent of the theft was shown to it only 3 March, a week ago, when the Swiss Federal Prosecutor gave it copies of “a substantal portion” of the stolen data. HSBC says it is now “actively contacting” clients to apologize.
Data was also stolen on additional 9,000 clients’ who have left the bank, bringing to 24,000 the total number touched by the theft. Many of those who left did not have large enough amounts to warrant a wealth management account.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - World media have been celebrating International Women’s Day for much of the week, with stories about the progress made by women in the past 100 years, particularly in politics and economically. But women are conspicuously small in numbers on Forbes latest list of the world’s rich. You have to move beyond the first 10 to find a woman, and most of those in the top 20 are from the same US family, the Waltons of Walmart fame. Birgit Rausing, whose money comes from Tetra Laval, is described by Forbes as “living quietly in Switzerland”. She is part of a very small group of wealthy women whose money has almost always been inherited, the magazine notes, while men who have made their fortunes do so in family businesses to a much smaller extent.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland’s largest health insurance company, Helsana, is reportedly considering cutting 500 jobs, according to an ATS article 10 March. The news agency received a copy of an internal company memo. Helsana had a loss of CHF215 million in 2008, followed by a loss of CHF58m in 2009, and the company’s reserves and capital have fallen in the past two years. The internal note reportedly says that the company’s administrative costs are 10 percent higher than the industry average and increasing efficiency while cutting jobs is now necessary.
The company has not responded to the reports that have appeared in Swiss media today.
Links to other sites: Helsana (Fre), TSR (Fre), Comparis for comparative health insurance in Switzerland
Bern / Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Marcel Ospel has told Swiss magazine Blick that he is ready to appear before a Swiss commission to answer questions about the debacle of the bank he headed two years ago, UBS. He has refused to comment or answer questions from political bodies since he left the bank in April 2008.
Political parties have begun wrangling, widely expected in Switzerland, over the US-Swiss agreement which covers UBS providing information to the US about 4,450 client accounts. Parties on the left are lining up to approve it only if pay caps are placed on bankers’ salaries, while the centre-right is arguing in favour of Parliament approving it, to secure the future of Switzerland as a financial centre.
Hydroelectric station, canton Valais, Switzerland
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Electricity price increases announced in 2009 by several suppliers were provisionally rejected in July 2009 by Bern as unnecessarily high, and Monday 8 March the federal electricity commission confirmed this. The commission’s report says that the increases were based on costs that were over-estimated in some cases and unacceptable inefficiency in other cases. The energy companies have the right to appeal, but if they do not the rate hikes will have to be abandoned.
The companies concerned are: Alpiq, BKW, Axpo (Axpo AG, CKW, EGL), EWZ and Rätia Energie, along with a number of smaller firms.
Tips for visitors
- pick up the official visitors’ guide in English prepared by Illustré magazine, by far the easiest way to find your way around, and well written
- go to the bank beforehand, as there are only two ATMs inside the hall and they tend to be busy; bring change, as there is just one change machine, near the entrance
- wifi: yes, Palexpo has it, but with a pre-paid card for one hour to three days, on sale at door E13
- children, dog and smoking: no smoking inside the building and six designated areas just outside; no dogs except guide dogs; children 2-5 years can be left at the nursery for CHF5/hour for three hours
- click on images below to view larger
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The born-again car industry is hoping to get out of the red by shifting most of us into the green. There are two kinds of cars at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show: those for consumers who care about the environment and their pocketbooks, and those who lust after big hunky gorgeous fast cars. Switzerland’s Illustré magazine, which prepares the official visitor’s guide writes aptly that “there will always be extremists: hardline opponents of he automobile on the one hand, and absolute car fanatics on the other. But increasingly, passion and reason are coming together.”
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Regional and smaller customer banks continue to make inroads in Swiss banking, with cooperative bank Raiffeisen boosting its share of the Swiss mortgage market to 15 percent. Mortgages were up 9.1 percent, an increase of CHF9.2 billion.
The company’s 2009 financial results, announced Friday 5 March, show a strong inflow of new client money: CHF110.7b, an increase of 6.4 percent. The bank’s profit rose by 14.4 percent to CHF645.4 million.
Raiffeisen is the country’s third largest bank, after UBS and Credit Suisse, and it is steadily gained ground in recent years.
Wind turbine, Switzerland
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Canton Vaud will have 10 additional wind turbines on a third site, by 2014, Romande Energie announced Friday 5 March. The communes of Longirod and Marchissy, at the foot of the Jura, have agreed to their construction, as have the landowners. The wind energy produced by the mills will supply electricity to some 10,000 households. The cost to build them: CHF60 million.
Romande Energie has set a target to have 10 percent of its energy coming from renewable sources by 2020-2025, the company notes.
Links to other sites: Longirod, Romande Energy, Swiss federal department of energy on wind energy
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Bob Lutz, age 78, a vice-chairman of General Motors, is retiring 1 May – but the announcement hasn’t happened quite as planned, with the news slipping out at the Geneva Motor Show, which Lutz is attending. Lutz had planned to make the announcement Thursday 4 March, reports the Detroit Free Press, but once word got around in Geneva, he decided to officially announce the news Wednesday 3 March.
Lutz was hired nine years ago to breathe new life into GM’s product line, a job he says is now completed. He is the last of the pre-bankruptcy senior managers to leave, reports the Detroit newspaper, which quotes an industry observer as saying he might have felt under-appreciated.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss National Bank ended 2009 with a profit of CHF10 billion, in line with estimates published 21 January. The bank attributes the turn-around from a CHF4.7b loss in 2008 to “substantial valuation gains amounting to CHF 7.3 billion on gold holdings and interest income on foreign currency positions.” The SNB financial results are published as part of consolidated statements that include the annual financial statements of the parent company and the UBS stabilization fund. “Taking into account the UBS equity contribution, the stabilisation fund showed a loss of approximately $400 million at 31 December 2009. This was fully covered by the SNB option for 100 million UBS shares at nominal value.”
Update 10:30 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Chemicals company Ineo, the largest UK company by sales, according to the Financial Times, is asking its lenders for permission to move its head office and tax residence to Switzerland. Ineos is the world’s third largest chemical company, with sales of £47 billion. It has 15,500 employees, 64 plants in 14 countries. Some 70 percent of its revenue is earned outside the UK. It describes itself as a”global manufacturer of petrochemicals, specialty chemicals and oil products.”
Ineos spokesperson Richard Longden told GenevaLunch that “We have been in discussion with a number of tax regions and will be considering locations as a part of our review.” The company would move up to 20 people, he says, “with possibly more later,” says Longden.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Gross profit in 2009 rose nearly 14 percent, to CHF115.2 million, the Banque Cantonale de Genève (BCGE) reported in its year-end financial report published Tuesday 2 March. Net profit increased 5.1 percent increase to CHF71.6m.
The bank’s results were boosted by a record rise in mortgages and good growth in total assets under management and administration, up 8.2 percent, an increase of CHF1.37m. It takes the bank past the CHF18 billion mark for these assets.
Quant's four-seater electric car: not all are small
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Several new vehicles debut at the Geneva Motor Show which opens to the public 4 March. Toyota Motor Corporation, which is unveiling new vehicles at the show, apologized to European consumers for its safety issues. Its large display of all-white cars and quotes about working together to create excellent quality products amplified the company’s message.
Among the vehicles that will be unveiled are a BMC Active Hybrid, Ferrari’s first road-going hybrid car, Toyota’s hybrid Auris HSD compact and Lexus CT 200.
Porsche has unveiled its 918 Spyder and American pop artist Justin Timberlake is expected to unveil the Audi A1 today in Geneva.
GenevaLunch will be bringing features directly from the auto show. Stay tuned!
Links to other sites: AP, Independent, UK, TopGear
