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“In the 2023 assessment, which should be published in the next few days, Postfinance’s contingency plan cannot be implemented again,” Postfinance boss Hansruedi Köng (57) said in an interview with “Finanz und Wirtschaft”.
“The situation has even changed from orange to red,” Köng continues. However, it still fits very well. “Of course, the negative evaluation of the contingency plan is currently causing a stir. That’s why a differentiated perspective is important.”
“The decision is a bit out of date,” the Postfinance boss said. At the end of 2022, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority Finma referred to the business figures for 2021. “At that time there was a negative market interest rate environment and the interest rate return came in mid-2022. We are in a much better position today, especially in terms of emergency protection. »
In addition, Postfinance’s assessment of its own funds is based on an interpretation of the “Equity Regulations that we do not share”. It requires a lot more resources than we think is necessary,” King said.
Finma also classified the contingency plan of the Zürcher Kantonalbank as “inoperable” in its final assessment in March 2022.
Postfinance also meets higher requirements
Köng stated that the decision of the Federal Administrative Court, published two weeks ago, rejecting the financial institution’s complaint against the relevant decision of the financial market supervisory authority, includes two different aspects. The court upheld Finma’s discretion.”
If Finma’s emergency capital interpretation becomes legally binding, Postfinance will also comply with this requirement. “With our current balance sheet figures and estimates, Postfinance will meet Finma’s growing requirements,” said the head of the Post branch.
The financial services provider will not be blown away by the next gust of wind. “We capitalized very well with a risk-weighted capital ratio of 21.3 percent,” Köng said. Different considerations relate to the unweighted capital ratio and ignore banks’ different business models. The Postfinance boss said this should be much more specific.
CS’ contingency plan is rated green
“Credit Suisse’s contingency plan was green and you can see what happened to it. One third of our assets are CHF 40 billion demand deposits with the National Bank (Switzerland). So I am deeply comfortable with this risk perspective,” Köng said.
Whether a set of rules that are too big to fail makes sense in the case of Postfinance is very debatable. “This system rightly seeks to protect the state from the risks that a private shareholder of a company must take. But our shareholder is already the government,” King said.
Postfinance has also received funding from Credit Suisse clients, but not on a grand scale: “There have been entries, but they are below the normal monthly fluctuation threshold of CHF 3 to 4 billion,” said Köng.
A political demand for banks to hold 20 percent of fixed capital amounts to “brutal downsizing” for Postfinance. “The discussions with Finma about the contingency plan are about additional de-anxious capital from a few hundred million to a maximum of 1.5 billion francs,” Köng said.
20 percent means a quadruple of current requirements. “Who should inject 15 billion Swiss francs, the state? We will have to back up our 40 billion francs risk-free demand deposits at the Central Bank with 8 billion francs of equity,” said Köng. (SDA/smt)
Source :Blick
I’m Tim David and I work as an author for 24 Instant News, covering the Market section. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, my mission is to provide accurate, timely and insightful news coverage that helps our readers stay informed about the latest trends in the market. My writing style is focused on making complex economic topics easy to understand for everyone.
