Swiss National Bank welcomes lawmaker support for UBS capital plan
SNB backs parliament's vote to require 90% capital backing for UBS's foreign subsidiaries, a direct response to the Credit Suisse collapse
Switzerland’s central bank has thrown its weight behind a parliamentary vote that would force UBS to hold billions more in capital reserves, marking the most significant regulatory tightening to hit the country’s banking sector since Credit Suisse imploded in 2023.
The Swiss National Bank expressed support for the Council of States’ decision to mandate a 90% Common Equity Tier 1 capital backing requirement for UBS Group AG’s foreign subsidiaries. The upper house voted 29 to 16 in favor on September 23, sending a clear signal that Swiss lawmakers are serious about preventing another too-big-to-fail catastrophe.
The 90% compromise
The original government proposal called for a full 100% CET1 backing, which would have required UBS to raise roughly $20B in additional capital. The 90% figure is a negotiated step down, expected to cost UBS somewhere between $16B and $18B instead.
SNB Vice Chairman Antoine Martin acknowledged the compromise openly. He called 90% “a good amount of CET1 capital” while noting that 100% would have been preferable from a pure financial stability standpoint.
Credit Suisse’s ghost still haunts Bern
Every element of this legislation traces back to one event: the forced merger of Credit Suisse into UBS in March 2023. The merger created a banking behemoth that now controls approximately 25% of Switzerland’s domestic deposit and loan market. SNB Chairman Martin Schlegel has repeatedly emphasized the importance of learning from the Credit Suisse debacle, and these capital requirements are the centerpiece of Switzerland’s post-crisis “too big to fail” reforms.
The news moving money, markets, and the world—before your day starts.
Daily. Free. Join 34,000+ readers across crypto, finance, and policy.
Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter has voiced her own support for the 90% requirement, aligning the executive branch with both the central bank and the upper house of parliament.
UBS pushes back
UBS has publicly criticized the measure, arguing that it doesn’t address the root causes of the Credit Suisse crisis. In UBS’s telling, Credit Suisse failed because of governance breakdowns and risk management failures, not because of insufficient capital ratios.
UBS has signaled it plans to continue lobbying as the legislation moves to the lower house, where the next round of debate will shape the final version of the bill. A final decision isn’t expected before late 2026 or early 2027, and the Swiss political system includes the possibility of a public referendum on the measure.
The bill includes a seven-year transition period for compliance, which gives UBS meaningful runway to build up its capital base without having to slash dividends or curtail lending overnight.