The population rejects the monster UBS – that’s the Sunday news

Control of XXL-UBS: Politicians are throwing proposals around

The parties outbid each other with ideas on how to tame the new XXL-UBS – and demand, among other things, the spin-off of Credit Suisse Switzerland. But research by “SonntagsBlick” shows that the leadership of UBS does not want to be dictated by politics. Those responsible in particular have little interest in handing over CS’s Swiss activities again. A senior man said in an interview with SonntagsBlick, “A lot of it is campaign noise from politicians who have no idea about banking.” The bank speculates that the takeover will be over once politicians have decided something.

The population is not satisfied with the solution for Credit Suisse

Two-thirds of those questioned rejected the solution chosen by the Federal Council for Credit Suisse. The Swiss would have preferred the state to nationalize and later sell CS. This is evident from a representative Sotomo survey commissioned by “SonntagsBlick” with 7,407 participants from French- and German-speaking Switzerland. 61 percent of the participants in the study would have preferred this variant. A monster UBS finds no support among the people. Four in five respondents are demanding that UBS spin off Credit Suisse’s domestic business again to avoid a concentration of risks. Those surveyed aren’t angry about political or regulatory shortcomings, but about the behavior of CS executives: 77 percent cited CS management mismanagement as a cause for anger when multiple answers were possible.

Finma under fire and aimed from left and right

According to “Le Matin Dimanche”, the financial market supervisory authority (Finma) was targeted by the parties following the Credit Suisse debacle. Finma was founded in 2007 with the aim of strengthening confidence in the functionality, integrity and competitiveness of the financial center and has 550 employees. The director, president and three board members all worked at Bank Credit Suisse, the newspaper said. “Our party will support the establishment of a parliamentary commission of inquiry to shed light on Finma’s role,” Thomas Aeschi, chairman of the SVP faction, told the paper. “Finma is responsible for not seeing the crisis coming, even though its role is risk management,” said Samuel Bendahan, vice president of the SP. “This matter must be resolved.”

The war in Ukraine makes the Swiss people pro-Europe

The war in Ukraine makes the Swiss population more pro-European. This is the conclusion of a new, representative study by GfS Bern, reported by the “NZZ am Sonntag”. According to this, the share of voters who have an exclusively positive view of the bilateral agreements with the EU has risen from 53 percent in the previous year to 59 percent. At the same time, 60 percent of those entitled to vote are in favor of Switzerland joining the EEA. The Swiss have viewed Europe differently since the outbreak of war, says GfS co-head Urs Bieri, who carried out the research on behalf of the trade association Interpharma. The survey also shows that a majority of voters are open to compromise in the dispute with the EU.

Politicians want to breed Postbank into an opponent of UBS

The only way to prevent UBS from acquiring a monopoly is currently the Postbank, which could be set up as a competitor to UBS through a banking license. SP party leader Roger Nordmann and center chairman Gerhard Pfister want to support the idea, writes the “SonntagsZeitung”. There are not many alternatives: a week after the deal of the century, the Swiss financial center is still in shock. Only one thing is already clear: after the acquisition of Credit Suisse, UBS will become so large and unpredictable that it will become a monster bank. Swiss politicians are overflowing with suggestions to tame the monster. The idea of ​​decoupling CS Switzerland from the deal and making it independent is particularly popular. But experts reject the suggestion: the cost of the operation would be too high and the rest of the bank would simply not be profitable.

The majority of city dwellers generally reject 30 km/h

Even the inhabitants of the red-green cities are against the general introduction of 30 km/h in the city. This is shown by a representative study by the Touring Club Schweiz (TCS) in ten cities, which is available to the “NZZ am Sonntag”. 66 percent of those surveyed reject a national speed limit of 30 km/h. Only in Lugano is there a narrow majority for it. In all other cities the rejection is clear. This has political explosive power: “Certain cities propagate 30 km/h as a panacea and obviously politicize beyond the majority of their population,” says TCS chairman Peter Goetschi. A majority of respondents fear that slower speeds on major roads could slow down emergency services and public transport. The Swiss Association of Cities criticizes the TCS study as one-sided.

UBS is also handling CS’s outstanding lawsuits

With the purchase of Credit Suisse, UBS is also taking on the pending lawsuits of the collapsed major bank. The possible fines in the billions also affected the purchase price, as the “SonntagsZeitung” found out. If the bank wants to resolve matters quickly, this may lead to higher costs. According to tax experts, in case of a merger, UBS can set off old SC losses against its own profits in future years. In principle, the law allows this in the case of mergers. If the tax authorities accept the offset of all losses of CS’s parent company, UBS can deduct CHF 24 billion from its future profits.

loophole found? Politicians are giving new impetus to the debate about war material

Politicians from the FDP, GLP, Mitte and SP have found a way to restart the deadlocked debate on war material: the shipment of Swiss-made war material is supported by the United Nations’ Uniting for Peace procedure. If the UN Security Council is blocked by the veto power, the UN General Assembly can step in and take action. This has already happened in the course of the war in Ukraine. For FDP national councilor Maja Riniker, the procedure “provides a good basis for allowing arms transfers to Ukraine”, as she says in the “SonntagsZeitung”. The Security Policy Committee of the Council of States will soon hold hearings. She wants to clarify whether it is possible to implement the procedure legally binding in the Swiss legal system.

The case of the journalist from Geneva who was shot in Ukraine is under judicial investigation

Photojournalist Guillaume Briquet from Geneva was shot in Ukraine a year ago. His case made international headlines – and now preoccupies Switzerland’s top researchers. According to the “SonntagsBlick”, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (BA) has opened a war crimes case, the first of its kind, related to the war in Ukraine. BA spokesman Anthony Brovarone confirmed: “Following a complaint from a non-governmental organisation, criminal proceedings were initiated.” The investigation would currently focus on unknown. The complaint was filed by the Ukrainian NGO Truth Hounds, which has been documenting war crimes in Ukraine since 2014. She blames a Russian commando for the attack.

Ukrainian refugees targeted by human traffickers

Criminal groups seek victims among refugees from Ukraine. Only a few cases have been reported so far. But now the National Reporting Center for Human Trafficking is sounding the alarm in the Sunday newspaper “SonntagsZeitung”: “The danger for Ukrainian refugees of becoming victims of human trafficking is currently increasing sharply,” says Irene Hirzel of the Act212 reporting agency. It bases this on data from the OSCE. These are currently showing a sharp increase in suspicious offers. The federal government also shares the opinion of the National Registry: “Human traffickers are increasingly luring people on social media and on the internet with dubious vacancies. This comes in the context of a significant increase in online searches for terms related to Ukrainian pornography across Europe,” said Andreas Heller of the FDFA Foreign Department.

Approval for solar systems can be more difficult than expected

The parliament wanted to make it possible to build dozens of alpine solar systems within three years. It would be a milestone on the way to the energy transition. In addition, it has rigorously simplified the approval process for mountain photovoltaic systems. But electricity suppliers are now criticizing that there is a flaw in the new law that will prevent many systems, as the “SonntagsZeitung” writes. The reason: for the construction of the power stations, the transmission network would also have to be expanded in many places. However, shortened approval procedures do not exist for this. The regular procedures usually take 10 to 15 years. Many locations for alpine solar systems are no longer available because the transmission grids are already operating at full capacity.

UBS collects almost as much money from depositors as Switzerland’s GDP

The size of the new UBS after the acquisition of Credit Suisse is too large compared to Switzerland, “Le Matin Dimanche” warns. Bankruptcy would plunge Switzerland into recession. Deposits of depositors, which can be withdrawn quickly, amount to more than 750 billion francs. This almost corresponds to what is produced in Switzerland with a gross domestic product of about 800 billion Swiss francs per year. Henry Peter, a professor at the University of Geneva’s law school, proposes a drastic reduction in investment banking. “These activities are very profitable, but they can also turn out to be quite risky.” Jean-Pierre Danthine, former Vice President of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), on the other hand, proposes strengthening banking supervision. (sda)