The new giant Swiss bank has assets worth double Switzerland’s GDP
Two men sit under a sign of Credit Suisse displayed on a building in Lugano, on June 9, 2023. © Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP
Multinational investment bank UBS announced on Monday that it has completed the acquisition of troubled rival Credit Suisse.
The UBS statement described the merger as “crossing an important milestone” and said that Credit Suisse Group AG has been merged into UBS Group AG and that the combined entity will operate as a consolidated banking group.
The new financial behemoth has a balance sheet of $1.6 trillion, roughly double Switzerland’s annual output (around $807 billion in 2022).
Monday marks the last trading day of Credit Suisse Group shares on the Swiss Exchange, and the bank’s American Depositary Shares (ADS) will no longer be traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the statement said. Credit Suisse shareholders will receive one UBS share for every 22.48 Credit Suisse shares held. The bank’s shares were trading at 81 centimes (about $0.9) on Monday morning.
Switzerland-based UBS agreed to buy Credit Suisse in March for an equivalent of $3.25 billion in a government-brokered deal aimed at shoring up public confidence in the Western financial system and averting a global crisis after the collapses of two regional banks in the US.
Credit Suisse, the second-largest bank in Switzerland, faced a string of scandals, legal issues and customer outflows in recent years. Its biggest investor, Saudi National Bank, announced in March that it would not be able to provide financial assistance due to regulatory and statutory limits. In 2022 Credit Suisse reported net loss of 7.3 billion francs (nearly $8 billion).
The acquisition ends Credit Suisse’s 167-year history and the whole affair has dealt a blow to Switzerland’s reputation as a stable global financial center.
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