Swiss banks have no influence on weak euro

The chairman of the board of bank UBS, Kaspar Villiger, has rejected accusations that Switzerland’s large banks have intervened to drive down the value of the euro.

In an interview published in the Saturday edition of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper, Villiger – a former Swiss cabinet minister – said UBS had no influence on currency exchange rates.

“There have been absurd accusations that the banks have been speculating against the euro. In global trading of the Swiss franc, Swiss banks only have about a 5 per cent market share,” Villiger said.

The UBS chairman’s come two weeks after Credit Suisse vice-chairman Urs Rohner described such accusations as utter nonsense.

Villiger said he was convinced the euro would survive the current debt crisis. “Looking at the health of state finances, California is in a worse condition than Greece.”