UBS CEO sees functioning competition in corporate banking

Ermotti rejected criticism that UBS could use its dominance in the corporate client business sector to increase prices for banking services. Keystone / Georgios Kefalas

Swiss industry plays an important role in UBS's business model. This is what UBS chief Sergio Ermotti emphasised on Tuesday during his appearance at an event called, “Industry Day” in Bern. Industry is a key factor in the success of the Swiss economy and also of UBS.

“We are a globally positioned major bank, but that does not mean that we conflict with Swiss SMEs,” said Ermotti in a panel discussion at the industry meeting organised by the Swiss business association for engineering, electrical, and metal industries, Swissmem. “We want to contribute to ensuring that they operate successfully as companies and are doing well.”

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Ermotti rejected criticism that UBS could use its dominance in the corporate banking sector to increase prices for banking services. “We will prove that this concern is unfounded.” And Ermotti was pleased that the Competition Commission (ComCo) confirmed that competition in Swiss banking is working.

Isolated price increases

Ermotti admitted that in individual cases there had been price increases in corporate banking. However, this primarily affected non-profit business relationships that UBS had taken over from Credit Suisse. In addition, financing costs for the banks have also risen due to higher interest rates and increasing regulatory costs.

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Ermotti is convinced that it is anyway almost impossible to undermine the well-functioning competition in the Swiss financial sector. The competitive situation in Switzerland has not changed significantly with the merger of UBS and CS. “231 banks have become 230 banks, and foreign banks are also increasingly considering entering the Swiss market.”

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In light of possible additional liquidity requirements for UBS, Ermotti insisted that the major bank not to be “punished” with higher capital requirements. The lessons of the CS crisis had shown that large buffers of capital did not sufficiently protect a bank that had lost investor confidence. In any case, the banks do not need more regulation. Instead, at most, they need better quality regulation, according to Ermotti.

Adapted from German by DeepL/dkk/amva

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