UBS boss Ermotti: Can’t pay the price for CS going under
Published: Tuesday, Jun 18th 2024, 18:31
Back to Live Feed
According to UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti, his bank should not be penalized for the failure of Credit Suisse. According to the text of his speech at the University of Lucerne on Tuesday evening, he said that the only remaining major bank "should not be made to pay the price and be penalized for its global significance".
The end of Credit Suisse clearly showed: "There is nothing worse than a bank that cannot generate sustainable profits for years and whose reputation is also tarnished." No amount of capital or regulation in the world would help in such a situation. This is one of the most important lessons to be learned from the downfall of CS.
"We must ensure that this never happens again." Switzerland needs a banking system whose players demonstrate the highest level of integrity and operate sustainably.
"Local banks are not enough"
At the same time, Ermotti once again emphasized how important it is for the Swiss financial centre to continue to have "a leading presence abroad". The fact that there is only one global bank left today is very regrettable. All the more reason for UBS to continue to assert itself in global competition.
This is because financial centers such as Hong Kong, Singapore and the USA are aggressively competing for the leading position in offshore asset management that Switzerland currently holds. According to forecasts, Hong Kong will surpass Switzerland as early as 2027, and Singapore is growing three times as fast as Switzerland, said Ermotti. This is despite the fact that Hong Kong and Singapore together only managed just as many assets as Switzerland around ten years ago.
"So we cannot be complacent. We must not think that it is enough to have local banks in a highly competitive market," warned Ermotti. Foreign financial centers would benefit from this.
In his opinion, there are too many uninformed, populist and fear-spreading voices in the media, politics and academia. "Many of these voices only see the danger of a big bank in our country." The many advantages are too often ignored.
"A diversified financial center with a leading, globally networked bank at its heart offers Swiss companies and households capital, advice and expertise," Ermotti made clear.
©Keystone/SDA
English 
German 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic