The constitutional text has already been written: a new popular initiative calls for the nationalization of UBS

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The Swiss electorate will decide the future of UBS. That is the goal of Bernhard Schmidt (58). The non-party school director from the canton of Zurich launches a popular initiative calling for the nationalization of UBS. This was reported by the SonntagsZeitung.

The initiative text is currently being assessed in advance by the Federal Chancellery. It states: “Large banks with systemically important dimensions should be managed as mixed-economy stock companies, with the federal government being the majority shareholder in terms of share capital.” For Schmidt, the cantonal banks are role models. Parliament would have only two years to implement the initiative. It must ensure that major banks – especially UBS – do not move their headquarters abroad during this period.

It should start soon

According to Schmidt, signature collection should begin this year. “The people must now take matters into their own hands,” he explains to the “SonntagsZeitung” why he is taking action. The Zurich resident, who is also running for the National Council with his own list called ‘Less is more’, accuses politicians of having no plan after the collapse of Credit Suisse and its takeover by UBS. The major bank, which is therefore even bigger, has become a “cluster risk for our economy”. Once again the state could not save a major bank.

Schmidt, who has so far only collected signatures for initiatives at cantonal level, is launching the referendum on his own. According to the “SonntagsZeitung”, the initiative committee consists of family and friends. There are no other supporters yet.

The SP is not averse to the initiative

Collecting signatures thus becomes a huge job. The committee must collect 100,000 signatures within a year and a half. At least: Schmidt can count on prominent voices who have also voiced the call for nationalization.

For example, former SP chairman Peter Bodemann (71) recently spoke out in favor of it. And the current co-chairman of the Social Democrats, Cédric Wermuth (37), also called for this years ago. As the “SonntagsZeitung” writes, the SP is the only party that did not speak out against the initiative from the start. (lha)

Source:Blick