The Swiss finance minister defends the hasty takeover of banks – #Swiss #finance #minister #defends #hasty #takeover #banks

ZURICH, March 25 (Reuters) – Switzerland’s finance minister defended a shotgun merger between the country’s two biggest banks in an interview with the Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung on Saturday, saying emergency law was necessary to stabilize the situation.

“Credit Suisse would not have survived Monday,” said Karin Keller-Sutter, explaining the need for a quick resolution to Credit Suisse’s woes.

“A solution way without it, payment transactions with CS in Switzerland would be significantly disrupted, or even collapsed, and labour fees and bills could no longer be paid,” he said.

Last Sunday, it was announced that UBS ( UBSG.S ) rival Credit Suisse ( CSGN.S ) 3 billion to the Swiss franc (3.23 billion dollars) agreed to buy and 5 billion francs (5.4 billion dollars) agreed to buy. losses in a merger set up by Swiss authorities to prevent further market turmoil in global banking.

The emergency law was used to get the banks to come to an agreement soon. For example, shareholders, who normally have a say in such a takeover, were largely sidelined, which angered some of them.

Keller-Sutter said the Swiss government’s executive Federal Council “has gone as far as is absolutely necessary to achieve the objective of stabilization”.

“If we did nothing, CS shares would be worthless on Monday and shareholders would go home empty-handed,” he said.

($1 = 0.9199 Swiss francs)

Reporting by Noele Illien Editing by Giles Elgood

Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

2023-03-25 20:35:03
Source – reuters

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