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Is Switzerland losing its place in the world?
After a year of tumult, some are warning that a system built on neutrality, consensus and direct democracy is not moving fast enough.
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Some have said that Switzerland should be "very worried - even paranoid" that global investment pressures and slow political decision-making threaten its competitiveness.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Mercedes Ruehl
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It was a remarkably blunt public warning from the top of Switzerland’s biggest bank. UBS chair Colm Kelleher declared in November that Switzerland was “losing its lustre”
As evidence, he cited fierce competition in wealth management, US tariffs that have hit pharmaceuticals and other export sectors, and a regulatory environment that he regards as increasingly out of sync with more liberal regimes.
