UBS boss warns against excessive banking regulation ahead of overhaul

ZURICH (Reuters) – Switzerland should not set rules for its banking sector that put it at a disadvantage, UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti was quoted as saying on Monday, as the country prepares to overhaul regulation following his bank’s takeover of Credit Suisse.

Swiss authorities are in the coming weeks due to put forward stricter banking rules aimed at preventing a repeat of the 2023 collapse of Credit Suisse, which has left UBS as the country’s sole global bank.

UBS is wary of what could emerge and Ermotti said tougher regulation across the board could weaken the Swiss financial sector against competition in London, Hong Kong and Singapore.

“Switzerland can’t afford to fall back into a ‘model student syndrome’ and introduce rules that don’t apply in other countries,” Ermotti told Migros-Magazin, the weekly publication of one of Switzerland’s main retailers.

Echoing the findings of a Swiss parliamentary investigation released in December, Ermotti said Credit Suisse had caused its own demise, and that Swiss authorities had allowed the bank to get around regulations that already existed.

Big banks had learned their lessons from past crises and were today a stabilizing factor, not the problem, he argued.

“Even if UBS had a problem, it would be highly unlikely that the taxpayer would lose a franc,” Ermotti said, arguing his bank had plenty of reserves to cover any potential losses.

Ermotti said the integration of Credit Suisse into UBS was going smoothly, describing the risk of delays in a complex IT migration as the biggest challenge.

On the delicate subject of pay, Ermotti said he had always felt he should be remunerated in line with competitors and according to his performance, adding that his first ever monthly salary as an apprentice was 350 Swiss francs ($388).

The CEO made 14.4 million francs ($15.96 million) in 2023.

($1 = 0.9020 Swiss francs)