(Bloomberg) — Switzerland’s government defended its role in the takeover of Credit Suisse Group AG, saying its intervention was needed to stop the collapse of the bank and fallout beyond the country itself.
(Bloomberg) — Switzerland’s government defended its role in the takeover of Credit Suisse Group AG, saying its intervention was needed to stop the collapse of the bank and fallout beyond the country itself.
“The Federal Council was obliged to intervene to maintain stability both in Switzerland and internationally and to protect the economy,” President Alain Berset said during a special session of parliament in the Swiss capital Bern. “A failure of Credit Suisse would have had disastrous consequences.”
The extraordinary parliamentary meeting, scheduled for three days starting Tuesday, is the latest battleground for the government to justify why it brokered Credit Suisse’s takeover by UBS Group AG. The move — described by Berset as the best option to re-establish confidence in markets — created a banking giant whose assets are more than twice the size of the Swiss economy.
Parliament, just like shareholders, didn’t get a say on deal, yet the March 19 agreement was signed off by a small group of senior MPs — the so-called financial delegation. That means the takeover can’t be derailed by the legislative.
- Read more: Here’s what you need to know about the special parliamentary session on the UBS-Credit Suisse takeover
Lawmakers are still likely to try to push the government to overhaul too-big-to-fail rules for systemically relevant banks and pursue legal action against management at Credit Suisse. It’s unclear at this point which executives might be targeted.
Given the merger has been met with little public enthusiasm and it’s an election year, there’s likely to be plenty of political grandstanding when politicians get to question the government later today.
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