B A SEL BERN DAV OS LA U S ANNE GENEVA F
Switzerland is a
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or a week towards the end of January, the eyes of the world will be trained once again on a ski resort in the Swiss Alps. More than 1,500 private jets are
expected to swoop into airports around Davos for the 50th annual summit of the World Economic Forum (WEF). If last year’s meeting of global fi nanciers is any guide, their passengers will talk shop with presidents and pop stars, crash chalet parties thrown by Rothschilds and applaud talks on climate responsibility from the likes of Sir David Attenborough – despite their transport choices. But, once they’ve all jetted off, staying focused on Switzerland could prove profi table for British fi rms. Although Switzerland has never joined the EU, it still accesses the single market (but not the customs union) as a member of European Free Trade Association. Little surprise, then, that some see it as a possible template for post-Brexit Britain. “Once the UK leaves the EU, you could argue that it and Switzerland are the two countries with the most in common,” says Noel McEvoy, director of the Department for International Trade (DIT) in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Indeed, the pair are home to Europe’s two
biggest fi nancial hubs, with some City experts arguing that that a London-Zurich axis could create a robust economic alternative to any EU equivalent after Brexit.
British exports to Switzerland were worth £19.6 billion in 2018 while Swiss exports to the UK totalled £10.9 billion, according to the DIT’s 2019 report UK Trade in Numbers. This means that the two countries feature among each other’s top 10 trading partners. In order to preserve this situation after Brexit, they signed a continuity trade agreement in Bern in February 2019. This will enable British and Swiss companies to trade freely in goods – but not services (of which more later) – without having to pay extra tariffs.
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confederation of 26 member states known as cantons, which have the power to set their
own rates of corporate and income tax
ZURICH
Got change? CHF1,000 is the world’s third-most valuable banknote, after Brunei’s and Singapore’s 10,000-dollar bills
PURCHASING POWER
Should you happen to visit the Rolex store in Davos, you might spot a CHF1,000 note changing hands. Worth about £800, Europe’s most valuable banknote gives some idea of the strength of Switzerland’s consumer market. Hoping to tap into this, London concierge business Ten Lifestyle Group set up a Swiss offi ce fi ve years ago in Zurich, where it now employs 50 people.
The company’s founder and CEO, Alex Cheatle, says: “Switzerland has one of the highest number of millionaires in Europe. Many of the requests we receive here are for travel arrangements. The rest of the world is as cheap as chips to the Swiss. Going to the Caribbean for Christmas actually saves them money.”
But he adds that “the Swiss are absolutely not bling. In a nation that looks after the world’s wealth, it’s considered gauche to show off, although they do appreciate the fi ner things in life.” This appetite for quality is refl ected in the success of Forest Distillery, which produces gin and whisky
GETTY IMAGES, SHUTTERSTOCK
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