After the emergency merger, there is a risk of trouble: the Swiss federal prosecutor wants to examine the processes for criminal violations.
(Photo: REUTERS)
Frankfurt The planned savings at the major Swiss banks Credit Suisse and UBS could lead to the loss of 25,000 to 36,000 jobs. This was reported by the “Sonntagszeitung” of the Swiss “Tages-Anzeiger”, citing an anonymous senior UBS manager.
The two institutes together have more than 120,000 employees. Credit Suisse did not want to comment on this, UBS was initially unavailable.
UBS had announced that it wanted to save $6 billion in personnel costs. Assuming around $200,000 per employee, this would correspond to around 30,000 jobs.
According to the “Tages-Anzeiger”, up to 11,000 jobs could be cut in Switzerland alone. An insider told the Handelsblatt that 9,000 jobs are at risk in Zurich alone.
Credit Suisse itself was reeling in the wake of the bankruptcy of the US regional bank Silicon Valley Bank. In order to stem the risk of a global financial crisis, the Swiss government and financial regulators had urged UBS to take over Credit Suisse. Credit Suisse shareholders suffered heavy losses.
Investigations against government, regulators and managers
This could have legal repercussions. In the course of the rescue operation, the Swiss government relied on emergency law to remove all legal hurdles for the Credit Suisse takeover.
So the UBS shareholders were not allowed to vote on this action. This has caused criticism in Switzerland.
Now the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office is examining the processes. “The media reports on the events surrounding CS over the past few days have been noted and an assessment of the situation has been carried out with all internal areas involved,” the authority told the Handelsblatt on request. “Investigative orders were also issued.”
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With a view to the relevance of the events, the Office of the Attorney General wants to “proactively fulfill their mandate and their responsibility to contribute to a clean financial center in Switzerland and has set up a monitoring system so that they can take action immediately on any issues that fall within their area of responsibility”.
The authority wants to check whether criminal law has been violated. The agency told the Financial Times, which first reported on the investigation, that there were “numerous aspects surrounding Credit Suisse” that warranted an investigation.
Credit Suisse shareholders are also positioning themselves. The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund announced on its website that it would vote against the re-election of Chairman of the Board of Directors Axel Lehmann and six other members of the Credit Suisse Supervisory Board. “Shareholders should have the right to make changes to the council if it does not act in their best interests,” the sovereign wealth fund explained its decision.
More: Sergio Ermotti replaces Ralph Hamers at the helm of UBS