UBS sought to reassure investors at its annual general meeting on Wednesday against a fraught political backdrop following its takeover of fallen rival Credit Suisse last month.
The 1,128 shareholders gathered in Basel were looking for clarity on the board’s integration plan after the “shotgun wedding” between Switzerland’s two biggest banks, which remains mired in controversy, legal peril and public skepticism.
UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher told the audience that March 19, the date of the emergency rescue of Credit Suisse from the brink of collapse, was a “historic day and a day we hoped would never come.”
But he said the merger also presents “a new beginning and huge opportunities ahead for the combined bank and the Swiss financial sector as a whole.”
He emphasized UBS’ continued focus on its wealth management and Swiss business and confirmed that the bank would reduce the capital allocated to its investment arm to below 25% of risk-weighted assets.
“Whilst we did not initiate these discussions, we believe that this transaction is financially attractive to UBS shareholders,” Kelleher said, while acknowledging there is a “huge amount of risk” associated with the integration.
The Credit Suisse integration is expected to take around three to four years, excluding Credit Suisse’s non-core investment bank portfolio. Kelleher said the bank expects to remain well capitalized and “significantly above” its capital targets by the time the deal closes.
New UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti began his second tenure on Wednesday after his shock reappointment last week, with the board having decided that he was the right man to lead the mammoth task of integrating the bank’s fallen compatriot’s business.
Ermotti’s return was seen by many commentators as an attempt to restore calm, as the country’s long-established reputation for financial stability teeters on the brink.
UBS reported a full-year profit of $7.6 billion in 2022, and its shares remain up more than 10% since the turn of the year.
Concerns remain over the scale of the new entity, which will have more than $5 trillion in total invested assets, and whether it creates too much concentrated risk for the Swiss and global economy.
Reports have suggested that UBS’ plans may include job cuts of around 20-30% of the combined entity’s global workforce, but the bank’s Vice Chairman said Wednesday that it was too early to offer any concrete estimates.
Credit Suisse held the final independent AGM in its 167-year history in Zurich on Tuesday, after Swiss authorities brokered an “emergency rescue” in late March, when the bank’s share price tumbled and depositors fled en masse.
The board was angrily confronted on Tuesday by shareholders demanding answers and accountability over the 3 billion Swiss franc ($3.3 billion) deal, which was rushed through over the course of a weekend and denied both UBS and Credit Suisse shareholders a vote.
Credit Suisse Chairman Axel Lehmann said he was “truly sorry” to shareholders, clients and employees, and suggested the bank’s turnaround plan after years of losses, scandals and compliance failures had been on track until turmoil in the U.S. banking sector sparked a flight of confidence.
Peter V. Kunz, chair in Economic Law and Comparative Law at the University of Bern, told CNBC on Wednesday that the mood in Basel was “totally different” to that in Zurich on Tuesday.
“Yesterday, people were angry, they were frustrated. Basically, CS shareholders were the losers. Here, you see the winners,” he told CNBC’s Joumanna Bercetche outside the meeting.
“They are gleeful, they are happy, they see the prospects of the future, some might even be triumphant because there was some bad blood between these two banks. They were rivals,” Kunz added, though he acknowledged that some shareholders remain uncertain about the outlook for the combined entity.
The Swiss Federal Prosecutor is investigating the state-backed takeover for potential breaches of Swiss federal law by government officials, regulators and top executives.
Swiss regulator FINMA held a press conference on Wednesday setting out why the forced merger was the best possible outcome, and laying the blame squarely at the door of Credit Suisse management.
This article was originally published by CNBC.
