Zurich (awp/ats) – Former and future chief executive officer (CEO) of UBS, Sergio Ermotti allays fears that the bank might become too big following the takeover of rival Credit Suisse. The merger leads to the creation of a new Swiss bank with more than 120,000 employees.
“Even by merging UBS and Credit Suisse, we do not rise to the top of the group of international banks,” Ermotti said in an interview with Italian business newspaper Sole 24 Ore.
The CEO points out that thanks to its activities, the bank is in a good position and its greater critical mass will certainly give it an additional advantage on the global level. The question of an “exaggerated” size does not arise, according to the Ticino.
Mr. Ermotti led UBS from 2011 to 2020 and he believes that the new UBS which will emerge from the merger with Credit Suisse will not have a greater share of the Swiss market than the cantonal banks and the Raiffeisen group.
It is only in the granting of loans to multinationals that the other Swiss banks will not come close to the position of the new UBS. But, in this segment, the institute will come up once morest competition from foreign banks.
Pursuing UBS’s strategy
Mr. Ermotti made it clear that the new UBS will continue the successful strategy of the current three-key bank. He maintains that the model of the new bank must be that of the old one. Wealth management will retain a central role and investment banking will be reduced, along with the risks associated with it.
Regarding the liquidity and guarantees of nearly 260 billion Swiss francs granted by the Confederation and the Swiss National Bank, Mr. Ermotti recalled that there are risks associated with the transaction. According to him, if we consider the overall framework of the recovery, we can say that the guarantees of the SNB and the Confederation are adequate.
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