UBS capital necessities ought to be proportionate, minister says

ZURICH (Reuters) -Capital necessities set for UBS beneath new banking laws ought to be “proportionate”, as Switzerland makes an attempt to strike a stability between monetary sector competitiveness and defending taxpayers, Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter stated.

Swiss authorities are weighing up how you can overhaul banking guidelines in a bid to stop a repeat of the 2023 collapse of Credit score Suisse, which led to its takeover by its previous rival UBS.

In an interview broadcast on Sunday, Keller-Sutter stated UBS was now a really massive financial institution in relation to the scale of the Swiss economic system, making a “particular state of affairs”.

“And so the suitable protecting and preventative measures should be taken; which means liquidity, which means fairness capital,” she informed nationwide broadcaster SRF (NS:SRFL).

She acknowledged UBS already confronted sure stricter capital necessities, together with beneath Basel III guidelines efficient from January that not all nations are implementing identically.

In April, Keller-Sutter stated estimates that UBS must maintain one other $15 billion to $25 billion in capital beneath her authorities’s proposals have been “believable”.

Requested within the interview whether or not the $25 billion determine was nonetheless legitimate, Keller-Sutter stated she couldn’t say. Ultimately, what counted was the entire package deal of measures, she famous.

“This should be checked out in a proportionate, focused manner,” she stated, arguing Switzerland should discover a compromise between having a aggressive monetary sector and defending taxpayers.

Addressing an upcoming parliamentary report into how authorities dealt with the Credit score Suisse disaster, Keller-Sutter pressured that the primary blame lay with the financial institution’s administration.

Requested in regards to the danger of incoming U.S. President Donald Trump imposing hefty commerce tariffs on different nations, Keller-Sutter stated it was too early to invest.

“However in fact if such tariffs did come about, it could be poison for world commerce,” she stated.