Switzerland awoke to a new era on March 20, 2023 after UBS swept up Credit Suisse in a government-brokered rescue that dented the country’s long-held pride in its banking expertise. A bank employee association said it was deeply shocked by the potential consequences from the deal to save the 167-year-old Credit Suisse after customer and market confidence in the lender evaporated. In a package orchestrated by Swiss regulators on March 19, 2023, UBS will pay 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.2 billion) for Credit Suisse and assume up to $5.4 billion in losses.
Headquartered just a few minutes’ walk away from each other, not far from Lake Zurich in the center of the city with snow-capped mountains on the horizon, the two lenders have been pillars of global finance for decades. The banks, two of the most systemically relevant in global finance, hold combined assets of up to 140 percent of Swiss gross domestic product, according to the central bank, in a country heavily dependent on finance for its economy
The Swiss Bank Employees Association, in a statement to an international news agency, demanded that UBS keep job cuts to an “absolute minimum”. “The jobs of very many employees are at stake,” it said, adding that it was in touch with management. The statement underscores the sense of unease in Switzerland, with its reputation as a global financial center on the line. Green Party lawmaker Gerhard Andrey said that Credit Suisse is “such a visible institute”. “This puts us in a very difficult situation as a country,” he said.
Source: IBP