The Swiss government announces the purchase of Credit Suisse by UBS

MADRID, 19 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The president of the Swiss Confederation, Alain Berset, has informed this Sunday of the purchase of the Swiss bank Credit Suisse by the UBS bank and has given an account that the Government guaranteed 100,000 million Swiss francs on Thursday for the bank's liquidity.

Given the situation of instability and the lack of confidence in the entity, the Swiss government has decided to "support the purchase of Credit Suisse by UBS", Berset pointed out at a press conference from the Federal Palace in Bern.

"The situation is known, Credit Suisse is one of the 30 systemic banks worldwide. It is one of the two largest banks in the country. It is therefore not only decisive for Switzerland, for our companies, for private customers, for its own employees, but also for the stability of the entire financial system," added Berset.

The Swiss leader has referred to the "significant turbulence" suffered in recent days by various financial markets. "This turbulence destabilized the most fragile banks and this was the case with Credit Suisse. Despite good capitalization, Credit Suisse has lost the confidence of the banks," he explained.

Consequently, "in the face of such a loss of confidence, ensuring the supply of liquidity to a bank is one of the measures to be taken as the highest priority." For this reason, the Government approved on Thursday night 50,000 million in immediate liquidity for Credit Suisse --which was already known--. Now Berset has announced that the total guarantees amount to 100 billion Swiss francs.

Already on Friday the government came to the conclusion that "the necessary confidence could no longer be restored and that a quick solution was essential to guarantee stability."