UBS’s acquisition of Credit Suisse brings some good and bad for crypto

On Sunday, March 19, the 167-year history of banking giant Credit Suisse ended with a takeover by the largest Swiss bank, UBS. Under pressure from the Swiss government, UBS took over its ailing competitor for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.25 billion) — less than half the $8 billion market value of Credit Suisse just two days before, on Friday, March 17. 

A day later, on March 20, shares in Credit Suisse plunged more than 60% in European trading, with UBS down 9%.

To cover any losses UBS may incur in the deal, the Swiss government will provide $10 billion. The Swiss central bank will also make a $108 billion bankruptcy loan available to the banks.

Swiss publication, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, called the takeover the “biggest economic earthquake in Switzerland since the rescue of UBS in 2008 and the grounding of Swissair in 2001.” A rescue should prevent a crisis that spreads to other banks, akin to what happened 15 years ago after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in the United States. The takeover of Credit Suisse was “necessary” not only for Switzerland but for the stability of the entire global financial system, argued Swiss Confederation President Alain Berset.

Billion-dollar merger over a weekend

The deal spurred mixed reactions in the Swiss political arena. The Free Democratic Party of Switzerland (FDP) praised it, stating that the takeover was necessary to avoid severe damage to Switzerland as a financial and economic center.

Criticism came from the co-president of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland, Cédric Wermuth, who tweeted that nothing had changed since the 2008 financial crisis. “The whole financial system is sick and absurd,” he said, adding that the state must step in again and save it.

Marcel Fratzscher, president of the German Institute for Economic Research, believes the takeover could lead to one giant bank, which would provoke instability across the board in the event of a notional collapse.

In an interview with Die Tageszeitung, the German economist said the current situation is nowhere near as worrying as before the global financial crisis of 2008. “Today, it is the sharp increases in interest rates by the central banks that have taken many financial institutions by surprise and have led to massive losses.”

In other words, the problem today is “not systemic interdependence…