Switzerland

UBS’s first loss in nearly six years shouldn’t make investors take their eyes off the road. While the Swiss bank said Tuesday that third-quarter net income was a negative $785 million—almost twice as large as the median analyst forecast—its shares rose about 3% in early trading, the Wall Street Journal reported. Yes, the one-off gain of $29 billion that resulted from UBS buying its rival Credit Suisse at far-below book value is now in the rear window, having been recorded in the second quarter.

A Swiss court is weighing whether to grant Credit Suisse investors access to more documents on a CHF16 billion ($17.6 billion) writedown of the bank’s bonds, a move the lender has opposed, filings seen by Reuters show. Hundreds of bondholders have sued Swiss regulator FINMA in an effort to recoup their losses from the writedown that helped pave the way for Credit Suisse’s government-orchestrated takeover by UBS in March. In the battle for disclosure, investors scored an early win in May when the St.

Traders of bank bonds are no longer penalizing UBS Group AG for Swiss risk. That’s opportune as the country’s largest lender considers a new issue of additional tier 1 notes, Bloomberg News reported. UBS, which acquired Credit Suisse in a government-brokered rescue that left investors in Credit Suisse’s AT1s with $17 billion of worthless notes, saw its risk premium soar to 450 basis points relative to non-Swiss issuers. Six months later that penalty has nearly vanished as confidence returns for AT1 notes in general, and UBS in particular.

U.S. authorities are seeking evidence from Credit Suisse to assess whether the bank misled investors about its financial health as it teetered towards a state-backed rescue by UBS six months ago, Reuters reported. Credit Suisse "has received requests for documents and information" from agencies including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Justice Department and Swiss regulator FINMA, UBS said in a financial filing on Aug. 31. In the note, part of UBS's 124-page second-quarter report, UBS also said that three U.S.

A group of international bond investors is drawing up plans to sue Switzerland in the U.S. courts for expropriation over the losses they suffered after UBS agreed to take over Credit Suisse with state support, the Financial Times reported. The case is being brought together by law firm Quinn Emanuel and could be filed by the end of the year, the report said on Friday citing people familiar with the matter. In essence, the claim would be seeking compensation for the destruction of [investors'] property rights, a person with knowledge of the plans told FT.

Credit Suisse clients withdrawing their money as the bank headed for collapse likely accounts for the first significant balance sheet contraction in a decade for all banks in Switzerland, a report by the Swiss Bankers Association on Tuesday said, Reuters reported. In Switzerland, the balance sheet of banks fell 6.9% to 3,339.7 billion Swiss francs ($3.76 trillion) in 2022, said the Banking Barometer, an annual report on banking industry trends. "The downturn among the big banks was especially large and probably driven mainly by shifts in customer funds at Credit Suisse," the report said.

Switzerland was urged to prepare properly for the failure of a big bank on Friday by a group of experts in the wake of the collapse of Credit Suisse, but their report to government skirted radical reform some say is needed, Reuters reported. UBS Group emerged as Switzerland’s single largest bank earlier this year after the government hastily arranged and partly bankrolled its takeover of stricken Credit Suisse to prevent that bank's collapse.

Switzerland's Competition Commission is looking into UBS's takeover of Credit Suisse, the authority said on Monday, Reuters reported. In March, the Swiss government, central bank and financial regulator rushed through a rescue deal for Credit Suisse, resulting in the country's two largest banks merging. "We confirm that the Swiss Competition Commission is looking at the takeover of CS by UBS and will send FINMA her results probably by the end of September," the Commission's vice-director told Reuters.

Switzerland's financial regulator looked into the risk of money laundering at 30 banks this spring, FINMA said in an analysis published on Thursday, after identifying shortcomings in the area, Reuters reported. "In particular, an adequate definition of the money laundering risk tolerance, which forms the limiting framework of a robust risk analysis through set limits, was lacking in some cases," FINMA said. Read more.

Global regulators spent more than a decade trying to ensure that a large bank could fail without any government support. Despite this year’s bank failures, they are still working on it, the Wall Street Journal reported. Global regulators are reviewing the March failures, including Credit Suisse’s collapse and Swiss officials’ decision to push UBS to acquire its rival in a deal with billions of public money, people familiar with the probe said.