Some fashions age poorly: Hawaiian shirts, YouTube investment gurus, and blind faith in the dollar. For decades, the greenback looked like the ultimate safe haven, invincible and universal. But when every election feels like a coin toss and tariffs become a campaign slogan, even Americans start looking for alternatives.

Geneva’s Pictet reports growing demand from North American clients. At Vontobel, assets from the US already total 18,000 M CHF—almost as much as Germany at 23,000 M CHF and not far behind the UK at 24,000 M CHF. Switzerland isn’t just a curiosity; it’s becoming a second home for anxious American capital. And this is no exception. Out of 8,400,000 M CHF managed by Swiss banks, 3,800,000 M CHF come from abroad. Nearly one franc in two held in Switzerland belongs to someone outside the country.

There’s no marketing stunt behind this. It’s the quiet efficiency of a system that converts global anxiety into local prosperity. As money flows in, the Confederation borrows at lower rates. Companies finance projects more cheaply. Households pay less for imports. Security becomes a national export, and paradoxically, it makes everyday life less expensive.

Across the Atlantic, politics is sold with grand gestures and providential heroes. In Zurich, the sales pitch is monotony. And yet, when 18,000 M CHF chooses Lake Geneva over the Potomac, it’s a vote for predictability. Boring, yes. But boring that pays.

Have a good week,
M. Hantale 🧀

Want to get your brand in Helvetica? Drop us a line.

Diversify your assets in Switzerland
Find out why nearly 2 million Europeans already keep a Swiss account.

Top stories

• 🇺🇸 Political assassination. Following Charlie Kirk’s death, the Trump administration launches an offensive against the “radical left,” targeting progressive foundations and media.
• 🇺🇸 Diplomacy. Zelensky will meet Donald Trump in New York on the sidelines of the UN, as the war in Ukraine remains deadlocked.
• 🇺🇸 Trade. The US Secretary of Commerce says a tariff deal with Switzerland is likely, but gave no timeline for resolving the dispute.
• 🇪🇺 Natural disasters. Heatwaves, droughts and floods in summer 2025 cost the European economy 40B CHF.
• 🇵🇸 Diplomacy. The UK, Australia, Canada and Portugal officially recognize the State of Palestine. France and Belgium will follow this week.

Economy & Finance

• 🇪🇺 Competitiveness. Mario Draghi warns about Europe’s slow pace of reform and fears an economic gap with the US and China.
• 🇫🇷 Growth. The Bank of France forecasts limited GDP growth of 0.7% in 2025.
• 🇪🇺 Inflation. Eurozone inflation remains stable at 2% in August, while core inflation stands at 2.3% year-on-year.
• 🇨🇦 Rates. The Bank of Canada cuts its policy rate by 25 bps to 2.5%, citing a weakening economy.
• 🇬🇧 Rates. The Bank of England keeps its policy rate at 4.0% and slows the pace of quantitative tightening to limit market turbulence.
• 🇺🇸 Trade. Swiss exports to the US plunged 22% in August.
• 🇫🇷 Taxation. France’s 2026 budget may introduce a new levy on wealth above €100M.
• 🇩🇪 Taxation. CDU leaders reject higher inheritance taxes.
• 🇮🇹 Debt. Fitch upgrades Italy’s rating to BBB+, citing a more stable fiscal outlook.
• 🇫🇷 Debt. France’s rating is downgraded to AA by Morningstar DBRS due to a high deficit (5.8% of GDP) and ongoing political instability since the legislative elections.

Switzerland

• 🇨🇭 Public finances. Switzerland plans to cut spending by 2.4B CHF in 2027 to contain its deficit, with adjustments possibly reaching 3.1B CHF by 2029.
• 🇨🇭 Defense. The Council of States rejected a 1B CHF increase in the arms budget, stressing the need for efficient spending against drone threats.
• 🇨🇭 Aeronautics. The Patrouille Suisse will end F-5 Tiger demonstrations in 2027, replaced by the lower-emission PC-7 Team.
• 🇨🇭 Public pensions. The Vaud cantonal government plans to abolish lifetime pensions for future members, replacing them with a one-off end-of-mandate payment and raising salaries to 300K CHF/year.
• 🇨🇭 Housing. Switzerland’s housing shortage is expected to persist until at least 2027, despite slowing immigration and growing pressure on low-income households.
• 🇨🇭 Reconstruction. Less than four months after the Birch glacier collapse, Blatten lays the symbolic first stone of its future village on the rubble.
• 🇨🇭 Media. The Swiss Confederation will stop funding TV5 Monde in 2029, cutting its annual 7.7M CHF contribution as part of budget relief.
• 🇺🇸 Diplomacy. Callista Gingrich confirmed as US ambassador to Switzerland after a narrow Senate vote.
• 🇨🇭 Volunteering. 65K citizens took part in Switzerland’s Clean-Up Day, collecting several tons of waste during 700 local actions.
• 🇨🇭 Birth. A baby hippopotamus was born Tuesday at Basel Zoo; both parents are experienced and the family is doing well.
• 🇨🇭 Cycling. Swiss rider Marlen Reusser finally wins the world time trial title in Kigali, dominating her Dutch rivals.

• 🇺🇸 Political assassination. Following Charlie Kirk’s death, the Trump administration launches an offensive against the “radical left,” targeting progressive foundations and media.
• 🇺🇸 Diplomacy. Zelensky will meet Donald Trump in New York on the sidelines of the UN, as the war in Ukraine remains deadlocked.
• 🇺🇸 Trade. The US Secretary of Commerce says a tariff deal with Switzerland is likely, but gave no timeline for resolving the dispute.
• 🇪🇺 Natural disasters. Heatwaves, droughts and floods in summer 2025 cost the European economy 40B CHF.
• 🇵🇸 Diplomacy. The UK, Australia, Canada and Portugal officially recognize the State of Palestine. France and Belgium will follow this week.

Around the world

• 🌏 Environment. The ozone hole over Antarctica shrank to its lowest level in years in 2024, confirming gradual recovery through international cooperation.
• 🇷🇺 Opposition. Alexei Navalny’s widow says lab tests confirm he was poisoned in prison in 2024.
• 🇬🇧 Tech. The US and UK sign a $42B deal to boost AI, cloud, and civil nuclear projects, with Microsoft and Google leading.
• 🇺🇸 Censorship. ABC suspends Jimmy Kimmel indefinitely over comments on Charlie Kirk’s death, reigniting the free speech debate in the US.
• 🇫🇷 Foreign influence. France creates a public registry of all lobbying activities for foreign states outside the EU, effective October.
• 🇦🇷 Justice. Assets of two sisters and Diego Maradona’s lawyer frozen over alleged fraud tied to the “Maradona” brand worth $1.34M.
• 🇾🇪 Press. 31 journalists killed in an Israeli strike on a press complex in Yemen, according to CPJ—the deadliest attack on media in the Middle East.
• 🇵🇭 Corruption. Tens of thousands protested in Manila after revelations of a suspected $17.6B diversion from flood-control funds.

• 🇨🇭 Governance. Paul Bulcke steps down early as Nestlé chairman, weeks after the CEO’s ouster, amid internal tensions.
• 🇨🇭 Biotech. Swiss firm Cutiss raises €60M to accelerate commercialization of its bioengineered skin graft for burn victims.
• 🇺🇸 Pharma. Roche acquires US company 89bio for $3.5B, strengthening its obesity portfolio despite political and commercial headwinds in the US.
• 🇪🇺 IPO. Swiss Marketplace Group, owner of Ricardo and Homegate, launches Europe’s largest IPO of the year on the Zurich exchange.
• 🇨🇭 Governance. Nestlé names Pablo Isla as its first external chairman in 25 years, seeking to ease governance tensions and reassure investors.

The Wealth Tax That Actually Works

Switzerland has its traditions. Cheese, neutrality… and since 1841, an annual tax on wealth. Not an exotic experiment, not the whim of some radical economist, but a fiscal institution as old as the railways. And against all odds, nowhere else does a wealth tax play such a central role in public revenues. Switzerland, a communist country? The numbers make the joke harder to dismiss.

By 2025, only two other OECD countries still maintain a wealth tax: Norway and Spain. But there, it accounts for less than 1% of tax revenues. In Switzerland, it’s five times as much. Look at the economy: the Swiss tax is worth around 1.2% of GDP. In Spain, barely 0.2 to 0.3%. Three times more, without drama, without riots in the streets.

Why does it work here? Because in Switzerland, the wealth tax isn’t a symbolic gesture aimed at “the rich”. It’s designed as a broad-based tax. The levy begins at a few tens or hundreds of thousands of francs. No magic threshold at one or two million. It doesn’t tax “the rich”, it taxes wealth. The result: no stigma, no endless ideological battles, and a surprisingly high level of social acceptance.

Then there’s the calibration. Effective rates hover between 0.1% and 0.5% for a few hundred thousand francs in assets, rising to 0.7% or 1% at the very top, depending on the canton. Enough for the wealthiest 5% to cover close to 90% of total revenues. Quiet, progressive, efficient.

Most importantly, it fits into a wider system. Swiss taxation is built with coherence in mind: moderation on income, balance overall, and a wealth tax that feels like part of a broader plan rather than an anomaly.

There is a catch. Switzerland does not tax private capital gains. Many economists therefore see the wealth tax as the flip side of this choice—a substitute, a way of collecting something each year on accumulated assets, since the appreciation itself isn’t taxed. It’s a trade-off, Swiss-style: understated, but deliberate.

In the end, the Swiss case shows that a wealth tax can be sustainable, useful, and accepted—if it’s designed with pragmatism rather than ideology. Enough to generate serious revenue, modest enough to avoid revolt. Balance, instead of incantation.

— Mourtaza Asad-Syed

Want to get your brand in Helvetica? Drop us a line.

Diversify your assets in Switzerland
Find out why nearly 2 million Europeans already keep a Swiss account.