Switzerland news

Bern will take part in any new payment system if it were created as an alternative to the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), according to Swiss Ambassador to Moscow Yves Rossier.

The majority of voters in Switzerland’s canton of St. Gallen have supported the prohibition of face-covering garments in public spaces, making it the second region in the country to introduce such a ban.

Switzerland’s financial supervisor FINMA says one of the country’s largest banks, Credit Suisse, failed to properly oversee its anti-money laundering procedures for FIFA, as well as Brazil’s and Venezuela’s state oil companies.

Some 600 people have enrolled in a private basic income experiment in Switzerland, less than a week after it was announced. The trial apparently aims to find out what the citizens are going to do if granted over $2,500 monthly.

Former Liverpool and Switzerland defender Stephane Henchoz has slammed likely new Swiss captain Granit Xhaka by claiming he does not represent the “traditional” country - because of his Albanian roots.

Two cases with very different outcomes involving the right of a Muslim person to refuse to shake hands with a member of the opposite sex were in the spotlight in Europe this week.