UBS braces for most complex phase of Credit Suisse integration

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. UBS said it will start the most complex part of its Credit Suisse integration in the coming months, as the banking giant deals with uncertainty amid global trade tensions and Swiss proposals to tighten capital rules. The Swiss banking group will begin the migration of former Credit Suisse client accounts in Switzerland to the UBS platform in the second quarter, it said in its annual report published Monday.

UBS sees this as the most complex phase of the entire integration process of its former rival. UBS stepped in to acquire its cross-town competitor in 2023, in a deal engineered by Swiss authorities at the height of a banking crisis that led many Credit Suisse customers and investors to lose confidence in the bank. Since then, UBS has been working to merge the two banks’ structures, shrink Credit Suisse’s portfolio and integrate staff and customers.

Preparations are well under way for the account migration in Switzerland, UBS said. Migrations of wealth-management client accounts in Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan were completed in the fourth quarter, it said. The move comes at a time UBS is awaiting an update of Switzerland’s “too big to fail" banking laws, aimed at avoiding bailouts, which the government has indicate will result in higher capital requirements for the bank.

Analysts say this could limit UBS’s ability to return money to shareholders. A Swiss parliamentary report into the crisis at Credit Suisse said the bank could have been saved if the country’s financial regulator took a harder line overseeing it and enforcing capital rules. UBS said it remains committed to a constructive dialogue, but that the current debate often overlooks the difference between today’s