Switzerland

Gold flows from Britain to Switzerland surge in first half

"Britain's gold exports to Switzerland surged in the first half of this year, Australian bank Macquarie said on Monday, suggesting bullion being sold out of exchange-traded funds may be heading for Swiss refineries before being sold on in Asia. The UK exported 240 tonnes of gold to Switzerland in May alone, while its exports over the first half of this year totalled 797 tonnes. In contrast, Britain exported just 92 tonnes of bullion to Switzerland in the whole of last year. 'The UK does not have gold mines, so where has it all come from? The obvious source is the gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs), most of which hold their gold holdings in London vaults, and which saw huge outflows in 1H 2013,' Macquarie said." Continue reading →

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The search for the world’s biggest BASE jump!

"Patrick Kerber opened a new exit point, by wingsuit BASE jumping off the Wengen-Jungfrau peak in Switzerland. Exit Point: Wengen-Jungfrau Peak, 4060m; Rockdrop: 138m; Landing: Lauterbrunnen; Flyable Altitude: 3240m; Time in Freefall: 2min 03s" Continue reading →

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Bitmine.ch – How’s a bitcoin miner made – Episode #1

"Bitmine presents its first video about how our Bitcoin mining devices are made. In this episode you'll have a sneak preview of our electronic circuits assembly facility and you'll see how the strict quality controls of Bitmine are accomplished in bringing you the best quality miners." Continue reading →

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World’s costliest auctioned car ‘in Swiss hands’

"The most valuable road car ever sold at auction, a candy red Ferrari convertible that fetched $27.5 million at a sale in the US last weekend, was acquired by a Swiss buyer, a report says. The unidentified successful bidder acquired the 300-horsepower NART Spider sports car, built in 1967, at an auction in Monterey, California. The car was previously owned by Eddie Smith Jr., the son of Eddie Smith Sr., an American multi-millionaire from North Carolina who bought the car new in 1968 after travelling to the Ferrari plant in Modena in northern Italy. With a 3,866cc V-12 engine and five-speed transmission, the two-seater was only one of 10 such models made." Continue reading →

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German jailed for Julius Bär bank data theft

"A German citizen who began working as a contractor for the Zurich-based bank in 2005, admitted that he had gathered information about the bank's clients, including their names, addresses and account numbers, between October and December 2011. He had then compiled a list of German clients with assets of more than 100,000 euros, Swiss francs, British pounds or dollars, and passed it on to a retired German tax inspector. In exchange, he had been set to receive €1.1 million euros. He told the court he had planned to use part of his compensation to pay off his own back-tax debt to German authorities." Continue reading →

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Export stats confirm massive outflow of Western gold to Asia, maybe ETF gold

"The London Bullion Market Association said that the daily cleared trading volume on the London market by its members hit a 12-year high of 900 tonnes -- worth $39 billion -- in June on the back of 'strong physical demand particularly from China and India.' At the same time Swiss gold refiners, such as Metalor, Pamp, Valcambi, and Argor-Heraeus, have enjoyed a boom, melting down large 400-ounce bars from London vaults and reprocessing them into smaller products that are preferred by Asian buyers. 'The Swiss are running three or four shifts to keep the refineries going non-stop. They're throwing bodies at it,' said one senior gold trader." Continue reading →

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How ancient Rome influenced European law

"The Roman Empire collapsed in AD 476. Isn’t it astonishing that its influence is still so great almost 2,000 years later? [..] When the empire fell, remnants of Roman law remained, coexisting with the common law of the barbarians. But it continued to thrive in the east of the Roman Empire. In the first half of the 6th century, Justinian gathered and compiled every legal judgement from the previous centuries. In the West, this compilation was rediscovered in Bologna, Italy, at the end of the 11th century. From that emerged the creation of Europe’s first university and first law faculty. From there, Roman law spread across all of Catholic Europe." Continue reading →

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Gold Investors Seek Alpine Haven in Swiss Army Bunkers

"At Pro Aurum, movement and vibration detectors add protection to the former Zuercher Kantonalbank branch in Kilchberg, a lakeside suburb of Zurich. Cameras hang from the ceiling to film employees as they fulfill orders from customers who can store valuables in one of the 700 safe deposit boxes or buy up to 100,000 francs ($107,000) of gold with cash over the counter without proof of funds such as a bank statement. About half of Buchwalder’s customers are Swiss, with Europeans making up most of the remaining clients. Pro Aurum, which also has units in Austria and Germany, trades 'over a billion francs' of gold per year." Continue reading →

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Fake police gang nabbed in western Switzerland

"Swiss police have arrested a gang of fake officers who stole tens of thousands of dollars from tourists in the Lake Geneva area this summer. The gang, made up mainly of Romanian nationals, had been posing as officers in some of the top tourist spots in Geneva and neighbouring Vaud, police said on Friday. The set-up was always the same: a plain-clothed member of the gang would ask an unsuspecting tourist for directions, only to be interrupted by two accomplices wearing police uniforms demanding to see his and the tourist's identification. With the tourist's wallet in hand, the phony officers discretely pocketed the cash inside." Continue reading →

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The Devolution of Financial Privacy

"It’s been no secret that China views FATCA very unfavorably and negotiations towards compliance are going nowhere. It seems unlikely that the US would hit China with the 30% withholding tax for non-compliance. With China holding roughly $1.2 trillion in US Treasuries, it’s not as if it lacks its own leverage over the US government. This leaves the FATCA juggernaut stuck in a Sino-US standoff. It appears the US will have to either make serious concessions to win China over or back down on the 30% non-compliance tax. Should China stand its ground and not compromise on FATCA, it would punch a massive hole in global compliance." Continue reading →

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