UBS Chairman: UBS was “best prepared” for CS takeover
Published: Sunday, Mar 17th 2024, 08:30
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In retrospect, UBS was "best prepared" for the takeover of Credit Suisse, according to its Chairman of the Board of Directors. For the future, the coordination of supervisory authorities and central banks must be clarified, Colm Kelleher said in an interview.
Before the takeover, UBS played through countless different scenarios, said the UBS Chairman in an interview with the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper published on Sunday. It was clear to him from October 2022 that Credit Suisse would have no future. At that time, the bank presented its strategic plan. From November 2022, external advisors from UBS began their work.
In March 2023, an operations center, a strategy committee on the Board of Directors and a well-connected Swiss Vice Chairman in Lukas Gähwiler were finally in place.
Negotiations with a "reluctant bride"
Nevertheless, Kelleher's breath caught in his throat when he received the call from the Financial Market Authority Finma. "I was speechless for two minutes, although I had been expecting it," said Kelleher. His thoughts were with the CS employees, who had suffered the most. "But we had to move on: We had four days to get a deal done with a reluctant bride," he said.
The negotiations never stalled. But there were difficult moments, said Kelleher. He had intervened with management and the supervisory authorities in some cases. "Finma did a very good job between March 15 and 19," said the UBS Chairman.
New instruments for supervision
However, Finma's powers were limited. After the takeover of CS, Kelleher viewed letters that Finma had sent to the CS Board of Directors. "If I had received such a letter from a US supervisory authority at an American bank, I would have behaved differently", said the UBS Chairman.
New supervisory instruments will be needed in the future. "Will there be a 'dual leadership', with a supervisory authority that is subordinate to the central bank?" This question needs to be clarified.
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