The SwissQT

2m read

·Nov 7, 2024

Hi, Kevin O'Leary here, standing in the middle of Switzerland. Actually, I'm just out of a little village called Neon, just outside of Geneva, halfway between Geneva and Lausanne. You know what I love about Switzerland? Everything! The air smells like money. This is what's so incredible about this country: everybody in the world trusts the Swiss.

Underneath the streets of Zurich, Lausanne, and Geneva are trillions of dollars from all around the world. What I love about this place is there's people here managing it. See all those houses? All money managers! These guys—there's thousands of them—make investments for people that put their money into Switzerland from all around the world. Swiss franc: the most coveted currency in the world.

Why? The Swiss never joined the EU, never joined the Eurozone—they didn't like the problems they saw. That's how smart they are. They keep themselves isolated but trusted, and they're fantastic money managers. So, where are they putting their money? That's why I'm here; I want to find out.

This is a wonderful little village full of money managers that invest globally. I ask them about Canada first: "Are you long Canada?" Their comments go like this: "Love Canada, love the commodity trade, love everything about it. Love the fact that the Chinese want to own it. But it's only two and a half percent of the world's GDP, so we have to look elsewhere to find growth."

Where are they putting their money? I'm amazed to find out: not in the United States! They're buying Brazil, India, China, South Korea, Thailand, even Cambodia. They love the growth. The Swiss love growth because their clients want the growth. And who are the clients these days? Not Americans anymore—Asians.

The new story you can see happening here is Asian money coming in by the billions into Switzerland. Absolutely fascinating! Ah, the smell of money. Till next time, Kevin O'Leary.

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The SwissQT

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