UBS Chairman criticizes Finma after Credit Suisse collapse
Published: Sunday, Sep 29th 2024, 12:40
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UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher has criticized the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma) in connection with the collapse of Credit Suisse. UBS is an opportunity and not a danger for Switzerland, said Kelleher in an interview with "Sonntagsblick".
Finma had written letters to the CS Board of Directors, said the Chairman of the UBS Board of Directors. It was inconceivable that CS had received these letters and had done "nothing or too little". "The best regulators in the world start much earlier, long before rules are broken," said Kelleher.
There had been warning signs since 2015. Nevertheless, they waited eight years. "But to be clear: it was primarily the responsibility of the Board of Directors and the Executive Board of CS to radically turn things around."
When he joined UBS in 2022, the first thing he did was put together a working group to prepare for the fall of CS. An uncontrolled downfall of CS would also have cost UBS a lot of money," said Kelleher.
UBS is very well capitalized
Switzerland has one of the strictest capital regulations in the world, and this is likely to be tightened further. The increase in capital requirements makes no sense. "It's nothing more than a sop to the people."
UBS is not a threat to Switzerland. Should UBS get into difficulties, which he considers very unlikely, there is a plan to get the bank back on track. It could guarantee that "we have the capital and liquidity to survive such accidents without burdening the taxpayer", said the Chairman.
He also said that leaving Switzerland was out of the question, even if UBS was a global bank. The heart of UBS is its Swissness.
High wages justified
The UBS Chairman also defended the "perhaps unjustifiably" high salaries in the banking sector. "If you don't pay them, you don't get the people you need," he said. We need specialists who understand the banking industry.
Sergio Ermotti did not have to become UBS CEO, he said. He had done a good job as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Swiss Re and now he was working around the clock seven days a week. In retrospect, however, he had underestimated the reaction that the UBS CEO's remuneration would trigger. In absolute terms, he understands the criticism. "In relative terms, we only paid Sergio Ermotti 10 percent more than his predecessor, even though he took on a much more difficult task," said the UBS Chairman.
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