Basel

Life sciences and the BIS

Basel is the financial centre of the life sciences. Roche and Novartis have their head offices in the city, and the chemical and pharmaceutical industry has shaped its banks, its law firms and its tax practice for more than a century. The Bank for International Settlements, the central bank of the central banks, is based in Basel, and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, which sets the capital rules for banks worldwide, meets there. The city's private banks are older and smaller than those of Zurich and Geneva and remain closely tied to the families that founded them.

Intellectual property and research

For a company from Asia, the Middle East or Africa, Basel is the location for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemical and medical technology businesses, for research and development, and for companies that hold and license intellectual property. The patent box, which all cantons have offered since the tax reform of 2020, and the additional deduction for research and development, which Basel-Stadt also grants, are applied in Basel with long experience, because they matter to the industry that dominates the canton.

At the border of three countries

Basel lies where Switzerland, Germany and France meet. Many employees commute across the border every day, the EuroAirport serves the region from French territory, and the Rhine ports connect the city with the North Sea. The authorities and the courts work in German, and English is widely used in the life sciences. The effective profit tax in Basel-Stadt is about 13 per cent, well below Zurich and Geneva. The articles below explain the federal law that applies in Basel as in the other financial centres, from company formation and bank accounts to tax, anti-money laundering, sanctions and dispute resolution.