A possible partial or complete takeover of the struggling Swiss bank Credit Suisse by its even bigger competitor UBS would bring two banks together with different parameters. An overview.
Systemically important big banks: Credit Suisse and UBS are the two largest Swiss banks and are considered systemically important for the country’s financial system. Both have focused their business activities on the areas of wealth management, asset management and investment banking. They are also active in the banking business for private individuals as well as for companies. However, they differ in various parameters.
The business figures: UBS remained a profit of $7.63 billion in 2022, and shareholders received a 10 percent higher dividend of $0.55. Overall, customers entrusted around $60 billion in new funds to the bank last year. At the end of 2022, UBS managed 354 billion in assets in Switzerland.
Credit Suisse made a loss of 7.3 billion Swiss francs in the 2022 fiscal year, which equates to around 7.9 billion in US dollars. In the fourth quarter alone, customers withdrew around 110 billion francs or around 8 percent of the assets under management from the bank. A large part of the deductions took place in the first two weeks of October 2022 after rumors on social media about the bank’s difficulties.
Workplaces and branches: UBS employs around 72,600 people worldwide. In Switzerland, the bank operates 200 branches with 4,600 customer advisors. It has an equity ratio of 14.2 percent.
The equity ratio of CS was 14.1 percent at the end of 2022, but has probably fallen in the meantime due to the outflow of liquidity. At the end of last year, the number of employees was 50,480 worldwide, 16,700 of them in Switzerland. The number is likely to fall by a further 9,000 jobs due to the cuts announced in October. CS operates 95 branches in Switzerland.
Legend:
The headquarters of UBS and Credit Suisse at Paradeplatz in Zurich.
KEYSTONE/Michael Buholzer
Different market values: The stock market value of UBS was recently over 77 billion US dollars, that of CS fell to around eight billion dollars on Friday evening.