The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority Finma has granted an exception for UBS and Credit Suisse. This is extra ordinary.
The lack of transparency on the Swiss capital market is so great that investors have to invent many of the details for themselves.
A current example of “banks X and Y after the conclusion of a merger agreement” shows this impressively.
Major search effort
A reporting obligation is – as the name suggests – an obligation to report ‘certain’ circumstances.
However, according to the latest report from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority Finma on enforcement reporting, which was published on Wednesday, it seems not everyone has to comply.
The decision has now also been published individually on the Finma website.
However, the Swiss stock exchange SIX has not yet published anything similar, even though it concerns the stock exchange rules.
Concealed information
“Following the conclusion of a merger agreement, banks X and Y submitted an application to the Disclosure Office of SIX Exchange Regulation,” Finma stated.
In it, they applied for the granting of a temporary exemption from the reporting obligation with regard to the jointly-held reportable shareholdings, the regulator explained further.
The date of the decision is given as May 26, 2023. However, on June 5, the major bank UBS announced the formal takeover of Credit Suisse (CS) on June 12, 2023.
“On this date, Credit Suisse Group AG will be merged into UBS Group AG”, it said specifically.
It therefore stands to reason that Bank X will be UBS and Bank Y will be CS. Several financial experts also confirmed to muula.ch that this assumption is correct.
Higher value interest
The supervisory authority granted Bank X a temporary exemption from the reporting obligation with regard to the reporting of the reportable shareholdings held separately by Bank X and Bank Y, respectively after the completion of the merger of Bank Y’s subsidiary.
The reason given by Finma is particularly interesting.
It approved the extra sausage because the circumstances underlying the merger justified a higher interest on the part of Bank X in an exemption from the reporting obligation limited to a few months.
Capital market in the dark
Under the leadership of star banker Sergio Ermotti, the monster bank UBS, with the blessing of Finma, does not need to inform investors promptly about the specific ownership structure in accordance with the law.
However, it is precisely in such a situation with an emergency merger that investors would have a legitimate interest with maximum transparency.
A reporting ‘obligation’ as the name implies, certainly looks different. And transparency in the Swiss financial center anyway.
21.03.2024/kut./ena.
