It has been considering since December the possible impact of a deal with its rival bank
UBS Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti said the bank aims to close the Credit Suisse takeover deal by the end of May or early June.
As early as last year in December, the Swiss banking group UBS was considering the possible impact of a takeover of rival Credit Suisse, that is, months before this process was hastily organized with the mediation of the Swiss authorities, in early March, according to the latest figures. This is a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which also showed that UBS concluded in February that a purchase of Credit Suisse was not desirable, but that it should prepare in case its rival faced “severe economic difficulties”.
This revelation, dated April 26, gives the clearest picture so far of the way of thinking of the Swiss bank UBS. Moreover, it shows that he was studying Credit Suisse's situation well before the bailout deal. In March, in particular, UBS agreed to buy Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.4 billion) and said it would take losses of up to 5 billion francs as part of a state-backed bailout. amounting to 250 billion francs.
In February, Switzerland's financial sector regulator FINMA noted that it was closely monitoring Credit Suisse as it faced “severe” outflows, adding, however, to the stabilizing effect of its liquidity reserves. Days before the bailout, the regulator and the central bank, while promising funding if needed, judged Credit Suisse to be healthy. They decided to step in only after customers, rattled by the collapse of two mid-sized US banks, continued to pull money from the scandal-plagued 167-year-old credit institution.
FINMA later defended its actions, saying it had responded quickly and asked for more powers to hold banks to account. Since then, Swiss authorities and UBS have been scrambling to complete the takeover as soon as possible in an effort to keep Credit Suisse's customers and employees, Reuters reported. Addressing the audience at a financial conference in Zurich on Wednesday, UBS Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti said the bank aims to close the deal by the end of May or early June.
UBS It said in its filing that the merger still requires regulatory approval in the European Union, India, Japan, Mexico and South Korea. Last month it secured provisional approval from European Union antitrust authorities, while the U.S. Federal Reserve approved UBS Group's takeover of Credit Suisse's U.S. subsidiaries. Finally, the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission notes that the merger could be terminated if “the conditions to its completion have not been met” by December, but that any unsecured regulatory approvals would not be considered a breach of conditions by UBS.
