Switzerland Loves UBS and Wants It to Stay, Top Trade Negotiator Says
(Bloomberg) — Switzerland’s top trade diplomat expressed her country’s heartfelt desire for UBS Group AG not to move abroad.
“We love UBS, so we’d really like them to stay,” State Secretary Helene Budliger Artieda told Bloomberg Television in Singapore on Wednesday.
Switzerland is tightening financial regulation in the wake of Credit Suisse’s collapse in 2023 and its subsequent purchase by UBS. The size of the enlarged entity has prompted concern that Switzerland wouldn’t be able to bail it out in any future crisis, leading to government demands for the bank to retain as much as $26 billion in additional capital.
Bloomberg News reported earlier this year that UBS is considering moving its headquarters abroad in response to the looming capital reforms, which it has labeled as “extreme.” The Financial Times reported earlier this week that UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher held talks with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about the potential move.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, Budliger couldn’t say if that meeting had taken place.
“I would think that such an important chairman of such an important bank would have a conversation from time to time with the US Treasury,” she said. “But I cannot confirm that that is actually happening.”
UBS declined to comment on the FT report and highlighted that “as we have said repeatedly, we want to continue to operate successfully as a global bank out of Switzerland.”
Turning to the recently concluded trade deal with the US, Budliger said that of the $200 billion investment pledge Switzerland announced last week as part of the agreement, most of the funds will be used for new developments in America.
“It can be acquisitions, but it’s mainly greenfield, brownfield projects,” she said, adding that “this going to be purely private-sector money.”
The diplomat declined to reveal which companies made commitments, saying the list is confidential due to some firms being publicly listed. Still, Budliger said that a “big chunk” of the sum comes from the pharma industry, that planes are going to be assembled in the US and a train manufacturer will increase its capacity there.
She also said that Swiss investments in the US gold industry will see America’s trade deficit with the nation decline, but added that “Switzerland will want to keep its capacity,” particularly in the resizing of bars.
On a clause in the trade deal with the US that Switzerland will address restrictive measures on American poultry, Budliger said that the import of chlorine-treated chicken remains forbidden. But she added that easing the restriction “might be a potential outcome later on” as both sides are now hammering out the details of the agreement.
“We will follow due process,” she said.
–With assistance from Steven Arons, Myriam Balezou and Noele Illien.
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