Switzerland’s lower house made a second symbolic vote against providing state guarantees for UBS Group AG’s takeover of Credit Suisse Group AG, reflecting a high degree of public discontent with the deal.
(Bloomberg) — Switzerland’s lower house made a second symbolic vote against providing state guarantees for UBS Group AG’s takeover of Credit Suisse Group AG, reflecting a high degree of public discontent with the deal.
The lower house voted against a compromise offered by the upper house, leading to a failure of the bill and ending parliamentary proceedings. Irrespective of the vote, parliament can’t stop the takeover negotiated last month.
Lawmakers on Wednesday couldn’t agree on what restrictions should be imposed on large banks after the historic government-brokered takeover.
A coalition of the far right and the left generated enough votes to ensure the bill didn’t pass. The Swiss People’s Party SVP, who forms the largest bloc of MPs, lobbied together with the Greens and some Social Democrats against it.
“The SVP has demanded since 2008 that we have no bank that can’t go bankrupt,” said SVP’s Pirmin Schwander. The state guarantees would only fuel a “narcissistic company culture” among bankers, he said.
The vote is a defeat for Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter and the delegation of senior lawmakers which agreed to the backstop on behalf of parliament before the takeover was announced in March.
Switzerland’s executive isn’t made up of a coalition or an outright majority, but of seven ministers from the country’s four largest parties. They usually make decisions by consensus and try to find pragmatic compromises — often outside of party lines.
Ministers don’t publicly oppose government decisions, irrespective of their parties’ stance on a matter or how they personally voted behind closed doors.
This setup means that parliament offers parties the most prominent platform to sway voters, which explains aggressive comments in that forum even if they at times lack bite.
–With assistance from Zoe Schneeweiss.
(Updates throughout with vote)
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