Swiss finance minister says UBS unlikely to leave its home base
Karin Keller-Sutter said a move would be more expensive than tougher capital rules and legally complicated.
ZURICH, Sept 26 (Reuters) — Switzerland's finance minister said it was unlikely that UBS would leave its Swiss base after this week's upper house parliamentary vote in favour of tougher capital rules. Such a move would be more expensive than the new capital rules and legally complicated, Karin Keller-Sutter told CH Media after UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher last week warned that the bank could rethink its Swiss base if capital rules became too harsh. UBS was dealt a blow on Wednesday when the upper house voted in favour of tougher capital rules that the bank estimates could require it to hold about $18 billion in additional capital.
Lawmakers supported a proposal that would require UBS to back its foreign units with 90% Common Equity Tier 1 capital, rejecting a proposal favoured by UBS for 50% CET1 capital and 50% Additional Tier 1 (AT1) capital, which is cheaper to hold. Keller-Sutter said UBS "went all out", probably having assumed it would get its way in parliament. She said the Swiss government had already made some compromises with the bank, a notion UBS rejected in comments earlier this week. com;)