UBS tells government it’s ready to talk
UBS says it is ready to meet a delegation of Switzerland’s highest federal authorities and parliamentary investigators interested in the embattled Swiss bank.
In a letter addressed to Swiss President Doris Leuthard and members of a parliamentary control committee, UBS chairman Kaspar Villiger and CEO Oswald Grübel said they were willing to talk.
“This is a good sign,” said Hans Hess, a senator from the centre-right Radical Party and vice chairman of the committee that recently criticised the government’s role during the global financial crisis and in addressing UBS’s woes.
A spokeswoman from UBS confirmed the bank had sent a letter to President Doris Leuthard and members of a parliamentary control committee but neither she nor Hess would not comment on its contents. All members of the Swiss cabinet had not yet been informed.
The parliamentary control committee is likely to meet on Monday to discuss what to do next. At the same time the House of Representatives will be voting on an accord involving UBS and the United States requiring the bank to hand over confidential client data. The Senate already approved the deal last week.
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