Zurich Paradeplatz has been conquered, now UBS Monopoly is playing in the US

class=”sc-3778e872-0 gWjAEa”>

There were once eight major banks in Switzerland. One went bankrupt during the Great Depression of the 1930s, two gave up after World War II. Two others – first Bank Leu, later Schweizerische Volksbank – were absorbed by the Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (SKA) group in the 1990s. SKA, which has been called Credit Suisse since 1997, would also have liked to get hold of the Union Bank of Switzerland. Instead, it merged with the Swiss Bank Corporation to form UBS. It is now this UBS, which in turn has been absorbed into Credit Suisse.

Last weekend’s earthquake was just the predictable final chord in a decade-long development. The more international the banks became, the clearer what was played here: Monopoly. And as every kid knows, there can only be one on the Zurich Paradeplatz.

The winner of this landmark decision and currently the most powerful man in the country is Colm Kelleher. The chairman of the board of directors of UBS has broad interests and is therefore an interesting personality. The 65-year-old is from Ireland, studied history at Oxford and is known as a lover of old Byzantium and not-so-old whisky. Of course he is also pleased that with the CS subsidiary Credit Suisse Schweiz AG, a bank has fallen into his lap, which maintains business relationships with half of the companies located here. Therefore, it will be difficult to take this jewel from him again.

However, Kelleher’s real interest lies elsewhere, after all he worked for New York bank Morgan Stanley for three decades before moving to Zurich. According to him, UBS competes with the major American banks. He is looking for the large growth market in Asia, for example among the wealthy clients from China.

With the new UBS, Kelleher is now taking monopoly to the next level.

Where is Switzerland in that? It serves as a trademark and unique selling point against the competition. For Kelleher, UBS is an American bank of Swiss origin that wants to conquer Asia.

That might turn on those pondering the billions in guarantees the federal government promised UBS a week ago. So that there are no misunderstandings: Yes, the Federal Council and the National Bank were not allowed to continue disrupting the global financial system and had no choice but to act quickly. There was far too much at stake for our country’s economy, as well as for economies around the world. In terms of markets, the intervention was indeed a success, although unfortunately the risk of a financial crisis has not yet been eliminated.

However, the real work for politicians and authorities is only just beginning. You have to find a whole new way to deal with UBS and to do that you first have to give up the role of water carrier, which you have always felt comfortable with – and which culminated in Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter’s statement last Sunday: “We are grateful to UBS. We are also grateful to CS.”

Switzerland temporarily saved the world banking system. Well done! From this she could now draw a new confidence to set strict rules for equity and business model, fees and charges for the new monopoly big bank. The central question is: how can the state avoid being forced to use public resources again in the next crisis and even having to show gratitude for this?

Although UBS makes good money in Switzerland, it literally said goodbye to Switzerland long before Colm Kelleher took office. Until the merger with the Swiss Bank Corporation in 1997, the Union Bank of Switzerland was called “Union de Banques Suisses” in French. After that, UBS should stand for “United Bank of Switzerland”; At the last minute, however, the board discovered that a United Bank already existed in Zurich (the offshoot of a Pakistani bank). They agreed to keep the name UBS, but it is no longer an abbreviation. On the contrary, the U, the B and the S mean – nothing.

Even then everything had to be done very quickly and there was no time for careful preliminary clarifications.

Source:Blick