Author: switzerlandtimes.ch

Switzerland’s benchmark mortgage reference rate, a key figure used to determine rents under existing leases, remained unchanged at 1.5% in June, according to the latest update from the Federal Housing Office (FHO), published on 2 June 2025. The rate was last cut by 25 basis points in March 2025, prompting a wave of rent reduction requests from tenants—eligible to take effect starting in July. Introduced in 2008, the reference rate is calculated based on the average mortgage rates offered by Swiss banks, rounded to the nearest quarter percentage point. It serves as the national standard for adjusting rents in response…

Switzerland’s largest bank has slammed a government plan designed to prevent a repeat of the Credit Suisse collapse—plans that could force UBS to hold billions more in capital. The news was reported by SRF and Bloomberg. This week, Switzerland’s Federal Council unveiled a package of measures aimed at reducing the systemic risks posed by the country’s oversized banking sector. The proposal follows the emergency rescue of Credit Suisse in March 2023, which exposed serious flaws in Switzerland’s regulatory framework and reignited debate over “too big to fail” banks. Key elements of the government’s blueprint include tougher capital requirements, expanded powers…

A group is once again pushing for stricter rules to hold Swiss companies accountable for their human-rights and environmental impacts—both at home and abroad. The proposed initiative would make firms, including their subsidiaries, liable for damage caused throughout their operations. This is the second such effort. A previous attempt, the Corporate Responsibility Initiative, won a popular majority in a 2020 referendum but failed to secure the necessary majority of cantons under Switzerland’s double-majority system. The measure was thus defeated. Undeterred, the Coalition for Corporate Responsibility has returned with a new initiative, which it submitted this week along with more than…

On Wednesday 28 May 2025, at around 3:30 pm, a large portion of the Birch Glacier, estimated at around 3 billion cubic metres, collapsed into the Lötschental valley destroying most of the village of Blatten. The landslide triggered a jolt equivalent to a 3.1 magnitude earthquake. Click here to view a video of the landslide, filmed by Henzen Hans, a local resident who posted the video on Facebook. More videos and images can be viewed here on the SRF website. But what caused the catastrophic landslide? Hans Rudolf Keusen, a veteran Swiss geologist who has been studying the dramatic events…

Switzerland’s naturalisation policy may change after a court ruling this week, reported SRF. On Wednesday, the Federal Supreme Court sided with a Turkish man whose citizenship application had been left in limbo for five years by the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) over a traffic offence committed during his application process. SEM had treated the infraction as sufficient grounds to suspend the procedure indefinitely. The court disagreed, insisting that officials must assess applicants more holistically—even those with a criminal record. The decision is likely to reshape the rules on applying for citizenship in Switzerland, according to a public law professor.…

Switzerland’s cantonal vehicle inspection authorities are struggling to keep up with the country’s growing vehicle fleet. As a result, more than 600,000 vehicles currently on Swiss roads have missed their mandatory roadworthiness tests by over a year, according to data from the Federal Roads Office (FEDRO), reported RTS. Under Swiss regulations, new vehicles must undergo a technical inspection after five years, followed by a second check three years later, and then biennially. But many cantonal offices are overwhelmed and increasingly unable to meet these deadlines. The backlog has grown steadily in recent years. Nationally, 9.27% of vehicles are over a…

Men and women in Switzerland are far from equal when it comes to health. On average, men die nearly four years before women and are more likely to be overweight. And women are more likely to suffer from chronic illness and depression, according to the 2022 Swiss Health Survey published by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) this week. The disparities stem not only from biology but also from how we live, noted the FSO. Women in Switzerland continue to outlive men—life expectancy at birth is 3.8 years higher—but they spend most of the extra time in poor health—the gap in…

A new report from Public Eye, a Swiss NGO, has drawn attention to the scale of personnel flows between the pharmaceutical industry and the country’s public health institutions. The investigation, published on Thursday, raises concerns over potential conflicts of interest and urges stronger safeguards to prevent corruption. The cushy transition between public office and private-sector posts is not new, acknowledges Public Eye. But the report, produced with the help of the research collective WAV, claims to be the first to quantify the extent of job-hopping between pharmaceutical firms, Swissmedic (the national medicines regulator), and the Federal Office of Public Health…

A Swiss court has ruled that Credit Suisse shareholders will not be compensated for losses incurred during the bank’s forced sale to UBS in March 2023, reported RTS. The Federal Supreme Court dismissed a claim brought by two small investors who had purchased nearly CHF 85,000 ($100,000) worth of Credit Suisse shares just days before the government-engineered rescue. The sale saw UBS acquire Credit Suisse for CHF 3 billion—about 94% below its book value of CHF 54 billion—under emergency legislation. Shareholders, stripped of voting rights by the terms of the deal, were not consulted. The plaintiffs argued that Swiss government…

Roughly 800 farms vanish every year in Switzerland, the equivalent of two per day, reported RTS. In the canton of Vaud alone, an average of one farm disappears each week. Behind these figures lies a more complex truth: the difficulty of intergenerational farm succession in a country where agriculture is still shaped by small, often family-run holdings. Andreas Wüthrich, a 64-year-old farmer from the Emmental, is preparing to retire after 35 years running a farm in Puidoux, Vaud, reported the broadcaster. You live with your work, day and night, he told RTS, reflecting on the all-consuming nature of the profession.…