“Merger would be a bad thing for Switzerland”

In Switzerland, banks, authorities and members of the government are advising on the rescue of the ailing major bank Credit Suisse under great time pressure. According to media reports on Saturday, talks about a takeover by the largest Swiss bank UBS are already well advanced. The aim is therefore to find a solution before the stock exchanges open on Monday in order to reassure investors.

For Christoph Blocher, a takeover of CS by UBS would be a bad idea. In the “Sunday view” he warns against a merger. “A merger of UBS and CS would be a bad thing for the Swiss workplace, especially for bank customers.” Because certain transactions would only be able to do internationally active Swiss companies with a big bank – with CS or UBS. “If there is no more competition, the companies will be at the mercy of the sole bank.” Therefore, according to Blocher, it would be better if a foreign bank took over CS. “That wouldn’t be bad per se. CS is already mostly in foreign hands.»

SRF business editor Reto Lipp is also critical of a takeover by UBS. In the “Daily News” he says clearly: “It’s not a good solution. We can already see that CS is ‹too big to fail, that’s why everyone is now dealing with CS – Finma, the National Bank, the Federal Council. Now if one such bank is merged with another, then the resulting bank is a much larger bank.” In the end you would have a “single monster bank” “and if things go badly, it goes badly for the whole of Switzerland,” says Lipp.

US star economist Nouriel Roubini, also due to his forecasts of the downfall of Dr. called Doom, beats in the “Sunday Newspaper” a tripartite division of Credit Suisse. “Credit Suisse is too big. And the weakness of one part, for example the investment bank, damages the good parts, i.e. the commercial bank and asset management for institutional investors and private individuals. The sooner the bank is split up or sold, the better.” However, he does not know whether a new CS investment bank would have a chance. “The first concern for Switzerland should be that Credit Suisse remains solid as a commercial bank, with good deposits and healthy credit. It wouldn’t be a global financial institution on its own, but why take that systemic risk?”

FDP President Thierry Burkart also says that time is of the essence. A solution is urgently needed for Credit Suisse, he says in an interview with “Sunday Newspaper”. Because: “Our companies, but also the international banking business, are so closely related that we might otherwise cause an international banking crisis.” According to Reto Lipp in the “Tagesschau”, 80 of the 100 largest companies in Switzerland have business relationships with CS. “It’s about millions of customers and bank accounts.”

Should there be an international banking crisis, according to Burkart, this would cause serious, lasting damage to the Swiss financial center and Switzerland as a business location.

A decision is expected in the next few hours – even before trading on the Swiss stock exchange begins on Monday at 9 a.m. (Swiss time).