The Euro

[tones]

I paid a renewal fee for a German patent yesterday, EUR290. The bank statement came back today - CHF 286.33. The Euro is now under one Swiss franc. I may go next door and buy the country, before the price goes up. (Mind you, the pound isn't also doing that well against the Swissie, CHF1.14).

 

[paulfromcamden]

Sterling has halved in value against CHF since 2007. I guess the events of 2008 followed by a gentle decline post Brexit vote.

We're always told that a weak currency is a boon for exports so I pity all those poor Swiss manufacturers of wristwatches and chocolate who now find themselves unable to sell their wares (that's right isn't it?)

 

[tones]

I pity all those poor Swiss manufacturers of wristwatches and chocolate who now find themselves unable to sell their wares (that's right isn't it?)

It certainly doesn't make it any easier. Many of the German shops in the border towns rely heavily on Swiss customers (Baden-Württemberg, the German Land bordering on Basel (if there wasn't a customs post in the middle of the road, you wouldn't know where one ended and the other began), actually moderated its Covid rules for the border areas at the height of the pandemic to keep the Swiss coming). The big Rhein Center in Weil am Rhein is a couple of hundred metres from the Swiss border, and for Swiss DIYers, Bauhaus and Hornbach both have large stores in Lörrach.

 

[bor]

I noticed that too over the last few days.

I thought at one point the Swiss Central Bank were supporting the CHF against the € at something like 1€ to 1,25CHF, because of the negative effect on swiss exports/tourism, but those looks well and truly gone, if indeed, they ever existed.

I assume it's an artificial situation where CHF is seen as a safe haven currency.

I recommend you make hay while the sun shines and buy lots of new german cars.

 

[tones]

I noticed that too over the last few days.

I thought at one point the Swiss Central Bank were supporting the CHF against the € at something like 1€ to 1,25CHF, because of the negative effect on swiss exports/tourism, but those looks well and truly gone, if indeed, they ever existed.

I assume it's an artificial situation where CHF is seen as a safe haven currency.

I recommend you make hay while the sun shines and buy lots of new german cars.

Your memory is correct - some years back, the Swiss Central Bank tried to hold the line at CHF1.20 (the original exchange rate at the introduction of the Euro was around CHF1.66). The bank abruptly stopped doing this, the Euro dropped like a stone, and I remember hearing on the car radio, when out shopping on the following Saturday morning, that the border crossings into Germany were to be avoided, because they were totally jammed with Swiss seeking to make as much hay as possible while the sun was shining. The rate bounced back up to something like CHF1.10, and has remained around that until the recent crises.

 

[hifinutt]

I paid a renewal fee for a German patent yesterday, EUR290. The bank statement came back today - CHF 286.33. The Euro is now under one Swiss franc. I may go next door and buy the country, before the price goes up. (Mind you, the pound isn't also doing that well against the Swissie, CHF1.14).

ah yes, been travelling all week in switzerland...trains cheap but nothing else !

 

[zeon]

Thought this was about football ?

 

[tones]

Thought this was about football ?

Potentially only in the political sense.

 

[bor]

I was going to joke that it's a good reason for the swiss to join the EU, but actually, it would have been a good reason for the swiss to have joined the EU and switched to the €.

But now it's too late. The CHF/€ rate is just too high and is a good illustration, why a strong currency isn't always as great an idea as it sounds.

Possibly we are about to see a gradual increase in ECB interest rates, which should bring the € back up again.

 

[tones]

I was going to joke that it's a good reason for the swiss to join the EU,

Why join it, when we can buy it before long?

 

[awkwardbydesign]

Why join it, when we can buy it before long?

Will they accept returns?

 

[davidjt]

Sir Humphrey might call buying it a very brave decision.

 

[PaulMB]

Your memory is correct - some years back, the Swiss Central Bank tried to hold the line at CHF1.20 (the original exchange rate at the introduction of the Euro was around CHF1.66). The bank abruptly stopped doing this, the Euro dropped like a stone, and I remember hearing on the car radio, when out shopping on the following Saturday morning, that the border crossings into Germany were to be avoided, because they were totally jammed with Swiss seeking to make as much hay as possible while the sun was shining. The rate bounced back up to something like CHF1.10, and has remained around that until the recent crises.

Absolutely correct! And right afterwards it emerged that the wife of governor of the Swiss Central bank had changed a few hundred thousand Dollars into CHF a day or two before her hubbie announced his bank would no longer keep the CHF down at 1.20 to the Euro. He claimed his wife did it without consulting him, but he had to resign. He should have been arrested, tried and jailed, in my opinion.