Credit Suisse has plugged client outflows, says UBS boss

UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti predicts a positive outcome of the Credit Suisse takeover. © Keystone / Urs Flueeler

A crippling bank run that forced Credit Suisse into the arms of its main Swiss banking rival has ended, according to UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti.

Wealthy Credit Suisse clients withdrew CHF110 billion ($123 billion) in the last three months of last year and a further CHF60 billion in the first quarter of 2023.

+ Where did it all go wrong for Credit Suisse?

The crisis of confidence in Switzerland’s second largest bank forced the emergency CHF3 billion takeover by UBS in March.

Speaking at the Swiss Media Forum in Lucerne on Friday, Ermotti said the wealth outflow “situation has stabilised” at Credit Suisse.

A large chunk of the escaping funds appears to have flown to UBS coffers. UBS reported inflows of CHF28 billion in the first quarter of this year, but it’s unclear where Credit Suisse clients sent the remaining funds.

Ermotti expects the legal and regulatory side of the Credit Suisse takeover to be completed in the next few weeks.

But UBS then faces months and years incorporating its acquisition operationally with trade unions fearing large job cuts.

Citing unnamed sources, the Financial Times says UBS will prioritise winding down Credit Suisse’s investment banking unit with a focus on cost savings.

A decision on whether to keep Credit Suisse’s domestic retail business, or to sell it off, will be taken after the summer, the newspaper reports.

Taxpayer losses “unlikely”

On Friday, Ermotti said he was confident that Swiss taxpayers would not suffer as a result of the state-backed takeover.

The government has promised to cover CHF9 billion of UBS losses if the deal proves difficult and has underwritten CHF100 billion in central bank loans.

Ermotti said it is “exceptionally unlikely” that the bank will need to cover losses with these funds.

The recently reappointed UBS boss also backed an investigation into the near collapse of Credit Suisse.

“In my opinion it is crystal clear, this situation did not develop in the last six weeks or six months but over the course of the last six, seven years,” he said.

“I hope that, when there will be an investigation, it should be long enough to properly understand everything that happened.”