Swiss finance minister urges banks to contribute to stability

Keller-Sutter to banks: 'Everyone must contribute to stability' Keystone-SDA

In a global context marked by geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainties, Switzerland offers companies something invaluable – stability – but it is also up to them to do their part, said Swiss Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter.

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Speaking on Thursday in Bern at a symposium on private banking organised by the Swiss Association of Private Banks (VSBP) and the Association of Swiss Asset Management and Institutional Banks, the finance minister warned: “All those who benefit from stability today, but who could jeopardise it tomorrow, must also contribute to it”.

The reference is evidently to Swiss bank UBS, which in recent weeks has opposed the government’s plans to tighten capital requirements for systemically important institutions.

“The federal government appreciates the fact that Switzerland has a big bank, but we have to limit the risk for taxpayers,” said Keller-Sutter. She rejected the notion that the state “would do nothing but put a spoke in the wheels of business”.

In her view, precisely in times of geopolitical upheaval such as the current one, stability is “invaluable”. And this also applies to the financial centre: today it can be observed that international clients want to hold their money in Switzerland to a greater extent again.

“Stability creates trust, and anyone who works in an institution every day knows what this means for the banking sector: the Credit Suisse case is there to remind us of that.”

The politician, who began her career as a translator and vocational school teacher, before moving on to various boards of directors of pension funds and insurance companies, recalled that a sustainable financial policy is a central pillar of the country’s stability. The debt brake anchored in the constitution, she explained, makes her job “both easier and more difficult”. It is more difficult because it prevents the easiest way to finance increased public spending, that is take on new debt. It is easier because it guarantees a sustainable financial policy, preserving the country’s resilience and capacity to act even in times of crisis.

The minister recalled March 2023, when the federal government had to take risks of more than CHF100 billion to secure the rescue and takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS. “Despite this huge sum, Switzerland’s AAA rating remained intact. This was only possible because the financial markets trusted that this risk for the state was manageable,” she concluded.

Keller-Sutter’s remarks fit in with this year’s theme of the so-called Private Banking Day, which is “Rising public debt: implications for markets, economies and society'”. The various speakers and participants in the discussions questioned the consequences that state debt will have on wealth management.

Translated from Italian by AI/jdp

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