Does a giant UBS offer more risk or reward?
UBS has ambitious growth plans since taking over rival bank Credit Suisse. Switzerland’s last remaining large global bank wants to turbo-charge its wealth management business and gain market share around the world. This makes some people nervous. UBS’s balance sheet is already twice the size of the entire Swiss annual economic output. This means the bank could bring down the economy if it goes bust.
What do you think? Does an ambitious global bank promise greater prosperity for Switzerland? Or does the risk represent too much of a gamble for such a small country?
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Does Switzerland need a huge global bank?
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My mortgage is being renewed and UBS already contacted me to say that they will not be able to offer me attractive terms as before. I then went onto the market and was able to secure a mortgage at HALF the cost of UBS/Credit Suisse.
It feels as though the giant is trying to push the market towards higher costs and charges. In other words it tries to behave like a monopoly. The bank needs some heavy oversight if consumers are to be protected.
The credibility and global presence of Swiss banks was widely recognised. With the financial collapse of Credit Suisse, the image of solidity and financial security of these banks in Switzerland and worldwide was reversed. With the acquisition of Credit Sisse, UBS becomes more fragile in the event of greater financial instability at the global level. And that is a latent and present risk of these times. It is understood that restructuring of this financial institution was attempted prior to the acquisition of the bank.
So what were the Swiss banking supervisory and regulatory institutions doing and where were they, and why did they not act earlier?
La credibilidad y presencia a nivel mundial, de los bancos suizos, era muy reconocida. Con la quiebra financiera de Credit Suisse, se revirtió esa imagen de solidez y seguridad financiera, de dichos bancos en Suiza, y a nivel mundial. Se vuelve mas frágil el banco UBS, con la adquisición de Credit Sisse, en caso de mayor inestabilidad financiera a nivel mundial. Y eso es un riesgo latente y actual de estos tiempos. Se entiende que se trato de reestructurar dicha institución financiera, antes de dicha adquisición del banco.
Cabe preguntarse, entonces, que estaban haciendo y donde estaban las instituciones de supervisión y reguladoras de bancos de suiza, y porque no actuaron antes?
The huge UBS offers both more risk and more opportunities.
Die riesige UBS bietet beides, mehr Risiko und mehr Chancen.
High salaries are common in this industry. However, the person should be liable with private assets if the business goes wrong.
Hohe Löhne sind in dieser Branche sind üblich. Die Person sollte aber mit Privatvermögen haftbar sein, wenn die Geschäfte schief laufen.
UBS in it's current set up is clearly too big of a bank for country of 8 million people. There are examples available of what happens when a completely oversized bank collapses.
Switzerland would have to call upon the EU to jump in and rescue. It's pretty clear what consequences this kind of a move would have. The EU membership for Switzerland would clearly be mandatory.
We will see where this is going to go. But it's clearly unresolved at this point in time.
I think that 50% of the bonuses of the decision makers of UBS should be held for 10 years in an escrow account, in UBS shares before paid out.
In compensation, they could be taxed at at low level (5-10%) at the paid out date.
This would oblige UBS decision making process to work out a modus operandi from within
Thanks for your contribution. The Swiss government is already making plans give the financial regulator greater powers to hold managers accountable. This is an issue for parliament to debate in the coming months. https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/banking-fintech/how-to-tame-ubs-without-making-the-bank-toothless/75541822
Some Governments, like the UK, bail out failing banks (but do not get paid back when times are good again). The CH Gov allowed Credit Suisse to fail. Why? Putting all of your eggs in one basket is a recipe for disaster. UBS is now huge. What happens if it fails?
Thanks for your contribution Lynx. The 'Monster' UBS debate is a hot topic for Switzerland right now. The central bank, with the backing of the government, tried to rescue Credit Suisse with emergency liquidity - but failed. Measures were also in place to allow an 'orderly' bankruptcy but the government appears not to have fully trusted the plan. This does indeed beg the "what if" question in the case of UBS.
In my opinion, I would call for a popular initiative for the Swiss state to acquire 51% of the Bank's shares. That way it could control what UBS does.
En mi opinion,llamaria a una iniciativa popular para que el estado Suizo adquiera el 51% de las acciones del Banco.De esa manera podría controlar lo que hace el UBS.
That's an interesting point Daniel. Citizens in Switzerland always have the chance to step in to resolve a situation if they don't agree with the decisions of politicians. At the moment, the political landscape is divided on what to do with Too Big to Fail banks. A future public vote on the matter could never be ruled out.
Ministry did total immature and wrong decision in killing Credit Suiess completely. Thats why educated and unbiased ministers should be put in ministry and not people just surface knowledge.
Reclaiming back bonus and possibility of even punishing them with jail terms must be in law. This fear itself will solve 99% problems
Win Einfach:
The bigger they are, the more noise they make when they fall :-)
Ganz Einfach:
Cuanto más grandes, más ruido hacen al caer :-)
We have seen worldwide, not only in Switzerland, that large banks took large risks (for large bonuses?). Consequently it might be safer for all to have many smaller banks rather than fewer large ones.
The UBS bank employs thousands of people in Switzerland. But it does not employ 50% of swiss people. So the rewards are just for these UBS employee and fat-cats managers. The risk is however, shared by most Swiss people, especially those who hold accounts in UBS and investments. I personally would divest from UBS.
Systemic risk is great but as long as mitigations are in place then net net it's probably going to work out well for Switzerland. Probably the government needs a seat on the board
I would rlather say more risk. If we look at past banking scandals it was usually the larger banks who took on larger risks, simply out of greed (and bonuses?). Smaller banks can be equally efficient for the tasks that customers usually need.
The size of UBS permits the bank to become a role model for investments in syntropic farming...beginning with Cacao production in Ghana. This would be a robust approach to strengthening interest in the biodiversity credits of Savimbo.com Syntropic farming exponentially increases soil carbon sequestration...improves soil regeneration, lowers disease pressure..optimizes all crop prodiction..and is 100% swiss
Large banks, and not just in Switzerland, are already much too powerful.
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