The acquisition of Credit Suisse by UBS has created "a monster", with a "huge risk of concentration" and a "major distortion of competition". In fact, UBS controls "a third" of the credit market in Switzerland and this is "bad" for companies in the country that rely on banking services. This is what the former Swiss ambassador to Germany said Thomas Gustav Borer, who wondered how his country, with a GDP of 700 billion Swiss francs, could save the new UBS, whose balance sheet is 1.500 billion of this currency.
Interviewed by the newspaper "Handelsblatt", Borer, who in the past worked for Credit Suisse, added that he was not surprised by the end of the bank, whose management made "serious mistakes". Furthermore, “investment banking was like a millstone around the neck, culture and risk management were the Wild West”. According to the former diplomat, "a short-term nationalization" of Credit Suisse would have been "the best solution for Switzerland", but the country "doesn't know how to handle a crisis" nor does it have a political system suitable for dealing with such an event. “We always have problems dealing with political and economic crises” explained Borer, who continued: “There are seven federal councilors with equal rights. The Federal President changes every year and does not have the power to set guidelines like the German Chancellor. Consequently, nobody is responsible for anticipating and managing problems”.
According to the former diplomat, the story of Credit Suisse it constitutes "certainly a great loss of reputation" for Switzerland, which in the United States has already been compared to a "banana republic". Furthermore, the Swiss financial sector always claims that the country is "the paradise of stability" and this image has faltered with the turmoil at Credit Suisse. At the same time, "the rule of law has suffered" because there are clear rules on how supervisory authorities can manage a bank in the event of a crisis". However, "those responsible have resorted to emergency legislation". Finally, for Borer, “it is surprising that shareholders have been partially protected while certain creditors have lost everything. Is not beautiful".
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