April 28 (UPI) — The Swiss National Bank said on Friday it will examine its banking regulations after the collapse of the country’s second-largest bank, Credit Suisse, in March.
Thomas Jordan, chairman of the governing board at the SNB, told shareholders at the central bank’s general meeting on Friday that the Credit Suisse situation had “stabilized” but that “banking regulation and supervision will have to be reviewed” in the wake of the incident.
“This will require in-depth analysis. Quick fixes must be avoided,” he said.
Switzerland’s central bank played a driving role in saving Credit Suisse in March, which was eventually taken over by its Swiss rival UBS in a $3.2 billion emergency deal.
Jordan said the most pressing change was providing the central bank the ability to offer necessary liquidity to banks in “extreme situations” without the need for emergency law.
“In the future, regulations will have to compel banks to hold sufficient assets which they can pledge or transfer at any time without restriction, and which they can thus deliver as collateral to existing liquidity facilities,” he said.
Jordan said UBS’s takeover of Credit Suisse fundamentally changes the structure of the Swiss banking sector.
The takeover has led to legal challenges over the lack of investor input and the decision to erase $16.8 billion in Credit Suisse AT1 bonds.
Jordan stressed the importance that Swiss households and businesses continue to “benefit from a broad range of efficiently priced banking services” which he said requires “competition and diversity.”
“We are optimistic that our domestically focused banks, but also the foreign banks operating in Switzerland, will adjust their product ranges accordingly,” he said.” We are also convinced that UBS will carry out its task of providing Swiss households and the wider economy with banking services responsibly.”