Fri, Oct 13th 2023
Confidence in the Swiss economy rose slightly again in the third quarter. According to consulting firm Commslab, the financial sector in particular is showing signs of recovery following the demise of Credit Suisse.
The improved perception of the local economy is “entirely” due to the more positive “respectively less critical” opinion climate towards the financial sector, according to the “Swiss Economy Reputation Index” (SERX) report for the third quarter of 2023 published on Thursday.
Specifically, the index rose by 0.7 index points from July to September and now stands at 91.6 points. In the second quarter, the index had still lost 1.2 points, after a minus of 7.9 points in the first quarter following the emergency takeover of CS by UBS.
The recovery of confidence in the financial sector has two reasons, the report continues. On the one hand, the extremely negative reception of Credit Suisse following its integration into UBS has receded somewhat, both in terms of resonance and reputation.
On the other hand, the domestically oriented banks and insurers were able to further enhance their reputation thanks to positive contrasting effects vis-à-vis the big banks and mostly solid financial results, as Angelo Gisler of Commslab explained upon request.
“Despite some normalization, the public focus on the new megabank remains disproportionately high,” Gisler explained. This is because, of the total 212 companies mapped in SERX, Switzerland’s now only major bank still accounts for a share of around 30 percent of media attention.
Commslab analyzes the reporting on Swiss companies on a quarterly basis. According to the company, the SERX, which is made up of 212 companies from the private sector and state-related companies, shows how the resonance, reputation and public perception of the Swiss economy are developing.
©Keystone/SDA
English 
German 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic