A new manager to head the supervisory boards of UBS and Credit Suisse

2023-10-20 09:22:00

The Swiss banking giant UBS is moving forward with the integration of the Swiss branch of Credit Suisse by entrusting Roger von Mentlen, an executive with a 40-year career at UBS, with responsibility for their supervisory bodies.

UBS imposes a new culture of prudence at Credit Suisse

The Swiss branch of UBS and the Swiss branch of Credit Suisse each have their own supervisory board which will continue to operate separately until their legal merger, indicates in a press release UBS, which must carry out a complex integration after the takeover of Credit Suisse. This legal merger of their Swiss branches should take place “ in 2024 », Specifies the press release.

A complex merger

To coordinate their integration, these two bodies will be restructured and harmonized. As of November 1, UBS Suisse and Credit Suisse (Schweiz) will each have an identical supervisory body, with the same members. Roger von Mentlen will be entrusted with the presidency in order to oversee both. He will replace Markus Ronner, who has chaired the Swiss branch of UBS since 2022, and Peter Derendinger who has chaired the Swiss branch of Credit Suisse since 2019.

In addition to this merger of supervisory bodies, the absorption of Credit Suisse by UBS will also be marked by the rapprochement of two environmental strategies. different », admitted on October 2, the boss of UBS who has failed the difficult task of cleaning up the activities of his ex-rival.

« Pooling two systemic banks also means bringing together two different policies on how to achieve the objectives for 2050 “, declared Sergio Ermotti during a conference in Geneva on sustainable finance. “ The two banks had each defined objectives. But the way each decided to achieve it is different “, he added, explaining that the objective of his teams is now to set up a project ” consistent ».

A bank in turmoil

As a reminder, Credit Suisse, the former number two in the Swiss banking sector, was faced with a serious crisis of confidence in March, and a collapse in its stock price, which pushed the Swiss authorities to negotiate urgently its acquisition by UBS. The banking giant only paid 3 billion francs (a sum equivalent at the time in euros) to take over its rival. But after officially sealing its takeover in June, UBS must now tackle gigantic integration work.

Because after weighing several options, including that of a split, UBS chose, at the end of August, to “ fully integrate » its rival Credit Suisse in Switzerland, whose brand will disappear, the banking giant announced this Thursday, August 31. The bank wants to complete most of its integration by the end of 2026. It hopes by that date to see more than $10 billion in savings from this merger.

“Two and a half months after the acquisition of Credit Suisse, we are working hard to implement one of the largest and most complex banking mergers in history,” said Sergio Ermotti, CEO of UBS, on August 31.

UBS will in particular have to clean up Credit Suisse’s investment bank, the source of numerous scandals, but has already made a decision concerning the Swiss branch of Credit Suisse, which includes its retail bank. , mortgage loans and business credits in Switzerland.

This absorption will also lead to the elimination of 3,000 positions in Switzerland, including 1,000 by the end of 2024, which has caused a stir in the Alpine country. Together, the two banks employed around 120,000 employees at the end of 2022, including 37,000 in Switzerland.

(With AFP)