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  • Switzerland Needs to Trust Freedom Again

    Switzerland is successful because it gives its citizens and businesses comparatively broad freedom. Not because the state directs particularly much. Perhaps we should remind ourselves of that more often. Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich August von Hayek and Frédéric Bastiat were separated by more than a century of economic history. Yet one conviction united them: society…

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  • Who instructed this payment: a person or an agent?

    Mastercard is building Agent Connect to link merchants, platforms and authorised AI agents. The Bundesbank has examined how agents might prepare or initiate payments under a mandate. These are developments in infrastructure, rather than a ready-made payment process for every financial firm. For a leasing company, the first useful question comes before execution. Does the…

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  • Financing belongs on the CEO agenda

    In most SMEs, financing is discussed after the order has already been signed.The sequence is surprisingly common: need identified, specifications prepared, offers compared, supplier selected, investment approved. Only then is the finance department or fiduciary adviser asked how it will all be paid for. Financing appears as settlement rather than design.By then, the most important…

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  • The transparency register makes KYC easier to test

    When financing a machine, a leasing company should know who controls the business behind it. On 1 October 2026, Switzerland’s Legal Entities Transparency Act (LETA) and the revised Anti-Money Laundering Act come into force. Many Swiss limited companies and private limited companies will have to identify, verify and report their beneficial owners to a new…

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  • A convincing AI answer is not yet financial analysis.

    OpenAI has introduced a financial services product that brings professional data, analysis and granular citations into one environment. Its initial emphasis is on research and investment banking. The question it raises for leasing is more familiar: can we trace every number in a credit file to its source? An application draws on accounts, statements, company…

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  • AI starts in the engine room

    Most AI projects do not fail because of AI. They fail because of Excel.In almost every discussion about artificial intelligence, someone eventually asks which data the model is actually supposed to access. Then the room goes quiet.The uncomfortable truth for many mid-sized businesses is that production data is on paper or in the shift supervisor’s…

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  • AI starts in the engine room

    Most AI projects do not fail because of AI. They fail because of Excel.In almost every discussion about artificial intelligence, someone eventually asks which data the model is actually supposed to access. Then the room goes quiet.The uncomfortable truth for many mid-sized businesses is that production data is on paper or in the shift supervisor’s…

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  • AI can accelerate bad decisions too

    A weak process can become faster without becoming better. Automating it may increase the speed at which its weaknesses affect customers. The case for artificial intelligence therefore begins with understanding the task, rather than celebrating the tool. For leasing businesses, potential applications include document handling, data checks and analysis. Whether those applications create value depends…

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  • A register cannot exercise judgement

    Transparency may not improve when information is stored in one more place. A register can make relevant ownership information accessible. Its value still depends on the quality of the data and the responsibilities surrounding it. Switzerland’s new transparency legislation and revised anti money laundering legislation take effect on 1 October 2026. Transitional periods for registration…

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  • Circular economy and the life cycle

    Most procurement processes end with the purchase. The life cycle only begins there.We optimise purchase prices with great care, negotiate discounts, compare offers and haggle over percentage points. We largely leave everything that follows to chance: operation, maintenance, spare-parts supply, return, recycling and documentation.That backfires twice. Commercially, because the purchase price is the smaller part…

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