Business week in pictures

The Treasury has struck a deal with the Swiss government to repatriate unpaid British taxes from private bank accounts and end the exploitation of the country's secretive banking system Photograph: Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters

With the Swiss franc at a record high, the country's shoppers are abandoning local business and tourists are being extra frugal. More and more Swiss shoppers have abandoned the motherland to snap up bargains across the border in Germany. Pictured: A member of the trade union UNIA holds up mock 1000 Swiss franc banknotes in front of the Swiss National Bank, in Bern Photograph: Pascal Lauener/Reuters

As a group of France's wealthiest citizens, including L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, take up the call for a tax on the rich, François Fillon, the French prime minister, announced a 'rigour package' to cut the country's deficit and save €11bn (£9.7bn). Pictured: Fillon, second right, arrives for a press conference on the budget Photograph: Patrick Kovarik/EPA

Andrew Higginson, the long-serving Tesco board director who was passed over as group chief executive this year, said he was quitting the supermarket company but not the City as he was hungry for a 'big CEO role' Photograph: Chris Watt/Tesco

Oil prices tumbled by more than $3 a barrel as Libyan rebels tightened their grip on the country, raising hopes that the source of Africa's biggest oil reserves could soon resume exports and give UK shares a much-needed boost Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images

G4S, the security company that employs more than 600,000 people worldwide, protecting everything from airports to rock stars, is hoping it will be able to pick up more work in a post-Gaddafi Libya. Nick Buckles, chief executive of the FTSE 100 company, said he was looking at opportunities to train Libyan police and protect the country's oil and gas assets Photograph: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters

Bombardier's hopes that the government will halt a £1.4bn train contract awarded to a rival have been dashed. David Cameron wrote to Chris Williamson, Labour MP for Derby North, saying he would neither reverse the decision nor meet a delegation to discuss the issue. Bombardier says the lost contract is set to cost more than 1,400 jobs at its Derby factory Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Britain's second-largest housebuilder Persimmon has seen a bounceback in summer sales, driven by the north, after a dip in the first half of the year. The housebuilder, whose brands include Charles Church and Westbury, said sales had climbed 4% over the last eight weeks while its order book worth £1bn is 10% ahead of last year Photograph: Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Goldman Sachs will face an array of legal claims focusing on its conduct during the financial crisis, one of Wall Street's most feared lawyers warned. The prediction of an escalation in cases is being made by Jake Zamansky, the US attorney nicknamed "Jaws" who spearheaded the successful pursuit of the investment banks after the dotcom crash. It follows a move by Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, to hire Reid Weingarten, one of America's top criminal defence lawyers Photograph: Scott Eells/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The insurance industry is lobbying ministers to use the forthcoming legal aid bill to ban referral fees in personal injury litigation, amid concern that the practice has sent car insurance premiums soaring. In road accidents, customer details are routinely sold by insurers, garages and even the police to personal injury lawyers or accident management companies who seek to ramp up customer claims and take a big cut Photograph: imagebroker / Alamy/Alamy

UK consumers are putting spending on big ticket items on hold as they grow gloomier about the outlook for the economy and their own finances. A report released by the Nationwide Building Society on Thursday showed that Britons were feeling more pessimistic even before the effects of the riots and the financial turbulence Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Steve Jobs has resigned as chief executive of Apple, to be replaced by its chief operating officer, Tim Cook, in a surprise move that may signal that the 56-year-old co-founder of the company is losing his battle with cancer Photograph: Niu Yixin/Xinhua Press/Corbis

The Moscow motor show began this week, showcasing a range of new models. According to a report by the trade journal Ward's, 35m new cars and lorries were sold worldwide last year – the second-biggest increase ever recorded. That is 95,500 extra vehicles being added to the global traffic jam every day Photograph: Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA