Regulator looks at possible steps against Credit Suisse top brass

FINMA president Marlene Amstad welcomes the debate about giving the regulator more powers to intervene. © Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

Swiss financial market supervisory authority FINMA is investigating whether Credit Suisse top management can be held to account for the bank’s debacle, its president has told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper.

“We are not a criminal authority, but we are exploring the possibilities,” Marlene Amstad said in an interview published on Sunday, adding that it had not yet been decided whether to open new proceedings.

After the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS, the focus will be on a transition phase to integrate Switzerland’s second bank into its leading one, and on financial stability, she told the paper. Capital and liquidity requirements for the new giant UBS bank are expected to grow gradually. “We can’t require it by Monday. Some transitional periods are necessary. But the requirements will increase,” says Amstad.

She also welcomed the current debate about whether to give FINMA more means to intervene. These could include the authority to impose fines and a “senior managers regime” where responsibilities could be established. In the case of Credit Suisse, she told the paper that “often it was not easy to know who was responsible for what”.

Another Sunday newspaper, Le Matin Dimanche, writes that political parties are pointing the finger at FINMA in the Credit Suisse collapse. The supervisory authority, which has 550 staff, was set up in 2007 to “strengthen trust in the good functioning, integrity and competitiveness of the financial market”, the paper notes. It says FINMA’s director, president and three of its board members all worked previously for Credit Suisse.

Thomas Aeschi, head of the Swiss People’s Party parliamentary group, says his party will support a parliamentary inquiry to shed light on FINMA’s role, the paper reports. “FINMA is responsible for not having seen the crisis coming, whereas its role is precisely to manage risks,” Social Democratic party president Samuel Bendahan told the paper.