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In banking, Switzerland can’t afford ‘model pupil syndrome’, says UBS CEO

UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti
Ermotti said fears that UBS would be the only major bank left able to dictate terms to Swiss businesses were unfounded. Keystone-SDA

For UBS Group CEO Sergio Ermotti, competition between banks in Switzerland will continue even following the takeover of rival Credit Suisse. He rejects calls for stricter regulation of the financial sector in Switzerland.

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In an interview with Migros Magazine published on Monday, Ermotti said fears that UBS would be the only major bank left able to dictate terms to Swiss businesses were unfounded. “There are more than 200 domestic and foreign banks in Switzerland,” he said. “Competition is at play.”

The UBS boss also considers a general tightening of banking regulation to be dangerous: “We support many of the proposed measures, but they must be targeted and proportionate,” he said. Switzerland, added Ermotti, cannot afford to fall back into a “model pupil syndrome” and introduce rules that other countries do not have. This, he said, would weaken the domestic financial centre.

+ Swiss regulator tells UBS to strengthen its crisis plans

Ermotti believes that UBS is still on track in terms of integrating former rival Credit Suisse: “We are making good progress.” Credit Suisse clients are currently being added to the UBS platforms. However, delays in IT migration are currently the bank’s biggest challenge.

Translated from German with DeepL/gw

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