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Speculation about a possible major merger of UBS and CS is not stopping. The driving force is said to be UBS President Axel Weber. The merger issue appears to come up this week on UBS’s board of directors, writes “Inside Paradeplatz.”
Room for speculation: Credit Suisse and UBS at the Paradeplatz in Zurich.
“Signal” is the name of the merger project, the industry portal “Inside Paradeplatz” reported yesterday, and although it was nothing more than speculation, the report had consequences: UBS and CS shares rose sharply on the stock market. The two stocks opened slightly lower Tuesday morning, but are still higher than before the merger rumors began.
Meanwhile, business journalist Lukas Hässig’s financial blog is up to date. There should be “fierce resistance” to the merger plans in both boards, he writes. Severin Schwan, vice chairman of the CS board of directors (and head of Roche) is named prominent critic. The UBS board of directors is supposed to take up “Signal” this week.
Has Finance Minister Ueli Maurer been informed?
UBS Chairman Axel Weber is said to be the driving force behind a merger. The merger should be agreed in early 2021 and completed by the end of the same year, the financial blog states. Weber had already tried to speak to authorities. Weber even threatened to move the UBS headquarters to Frankfurt. Federal Counsel Ueli Maurer and Mark Branson, Head of Finma’s Financial Market Authority, are said to have been present at the meeting.
However, according to information from CH Media, these were not formal discussions, but simply general discussions about the possibilities and consequences of cooperation between large banks. The presentation of “Inside Paradeplatz” to the “Fusion Plan” also seems quite exaggerated. One hears from UBS that a merger was “just” scrutinized by consultants, as part of the usual trading games and option checks.
Top management considers that the merger is not possible, also for their own interest
As the Bloomberg business agency reports, the issue of the merger has not yet been specifically discussed with top management. According to the investigation of CH Media, a merger is considered to have no chance there. Possibly also because such a high level of management would make many high-paying jobs superfluous.
A merger would create a bank with total assets of 1.7 trillion Swiss francs and more than 116,000 employees. When asked about the rumored merger plans, both banks’ communication departments emphasized Monday that they would not comment on the rumors.
