Sat, Apr 20th 2024
The Federal Council’s strategic approach to managing the Credit Suisse crisis earns recognition at the IMF’s spring meeting.
The Federal Council’s report on the crisis surrounding the major bank Credit Suisse and the “too big too fail” issue has met with approval at the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Sutter said this on Friday in Washington.
“We want to learn from the case, because after the experiences we have had, it is necessary to critically scrutinize certain international standards once again.”
It should not be forgotten that the “too big to fail regime” is international, not just a Swiss regulation said Keller-Sutter.
Switzerland wants to play an active role in the further development of the international “too big to fail” rules in order to protect states and taxpayers from the consequences of the failure of a major bank.
A major issue in the IMF framework is the growing national debt against the backdrop of rising interest rates and rapidly increasing defensce spending, said Keller-Sutter. “We have not managed to implement the necessary structural reforms in times of negative or zero interest rates,” said the Finance Minister.
The high level of debt and persistently high interest rates are a risk to financial stability. The fact that Switzerland has already been able to lower the key interest rate is also thanks to its special case status. “We have other prerequisites, low debt, high financial stability and our own currency.”
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