He said it made no sense to reject the deal, damaging the future of the bank and the Swiss economy.
Merz presented a plan by the cabinet, including measures to curb excessive bonus payments, aimed at limiting the risks for the national economy caused by important banks, known as the “too big to fail” problem.
“It is an ambitious timetable and our plan is binding. The aim is to give political assurances,” Merz told a news conference on Wednesday.
The government must submit legal amendments to parliament by the end of the year. They could come into force in 2012.
The government is facing opposition by two of the four main political parties ahead of a parliamentary debate on the US treaty in June.
The rightwing Swiss People’s Party is fundamentally against the deal, while the centre-left Social Democrats want stricter rules on banks in return for their approval.
Under the accord with the US, Switzerland is to process and hand over by next August data of up to 4,450 UBS clients suspected of tax evasion despite banking secrecy laws.
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Cabinet sends UBS deal to parliament
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It also said on Wednesday that UBS should pay some SFr40 million ($38 million) in costs associated with providing assistance to US requests for information. The cabinet had previously decided the bank would be only on the hook for SFr1 million. The US has accused clients of the embattled bank of evading taxes. The Swiss…
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It is examining a proposal that would no longer treat high salaries as a normal part of the business and deductible from a bank’s net profit. The idea stems from Anita Fetz, a parliamentarian with the centre-left Social Democrats, who proposed a motion calling for salaries of more than SFr1.5 million ($1.42 million) to no…
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Under the accord, which was signed in Washington on Wednesday, UBS does not face a fine or suffer other punitive damages. The accord is expected to ease tensions in relations between Washington and Switzerland over possible violations of the country’s banking secrecy laws and prevent a clash of Swiss and US jurisdictions. “More than two…
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Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said the country would “discuss with US authorities right away” the issue of providing information on clients of the Swiss bank suspected of tax evasion. Switzerland’s Federal Administrative Court last week ruled that authorities were prohibited from handing over information on a majority of some 4,500 accounts sought by the US…
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Over the past few years, UBS has garnered a lot of negative press. Extraordinary general assemblies and public protests have been occuring with increasing frequency.
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.