Switzerland’s flagship bank UBS ... “considers moving its Zurich headquarters”

[Financial News] Switzerland’s largest investment bank, UBS, is considering moving its Zurich headquarters overseas, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), a U.S. daily, reported on the 14th (local time).
If UBS does leave Switzerland, major changes are expected in the structure of the country’s banking industry, once considered a byword for a global safe haven for assets.
According to the WSJ, UBS officials and the bank’s advisers are reportedly drawing up a “contingency plan” in response to the Swiss parliament’s recent plans to amend the Banking Act.  
People familiar with the matter said the plan includes moving UBS’s headquarters abroad, including to the United States. The bank could relocate its headquarters by acquiring a financial institution based in the United States.
Other options, including a merger with a European rival or a sale to a U.S. company, are also reportedly being discussed.
The move is seen as an effort to reduce the company’s cost burden in anticipation of the Swiss parliament’s banking law revision.
Since the so-called “Credit Suisse crisis” in 2023, the Swiss parliament has been pursuing amendments to the Banking Act that would impose stricter capital requirements on large banks.
At the time, Credit Suisse faced the risk of collapse amid a liquidity crisis, and UBS acquired it, effectively leaving UBS as Switzerland’s last major bank. Public support for the banking law amendments is also high in Switzerland.
If the bill passes, UBS will have to hold a substantial amount of new capital, with the resulting cost burden estimated at $16 billion (about 21.5 trillion won).
A source familiar with the bank’s internal affairs told the WSJ that UBS’s group chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) are “in complete agreement” on the headquarters move.
The WSJ said that if UBS leaves Zurich, the bank’s “Swiss identity”—as a standard-bearer of Swiss finance—will weaken.
Some observers, however, suggest UBS is invoking a possible headquarters move as a last resort to persuade parliament.
The WSJ noted that even if the headquarters move goes ahead, UBS could keep its domestic Swiss operations intact or even spin them off to outside investors.
Founded in 1862, UBS was once the world’s second-largest bank by assets and remains the world’s largest in asset management.  


[email protected] Lee Seok-woo, International Affairs Correspondent Reporter