Switzerland opens consultation on bank accountability bonus rules for UBS following Credit Suisse collapse
Switzerland's Federal Council opened public consultation today on tougher rules for banks like UBS $UBS: an accountability regime for banks over 250 staff, stricter risk-linked bonus limits, and stronger crisis prep. FINMA backs it. Runs through November 19.
Switzerland's Federal Council opened a public consultation on Wednesday on amendments to the Banking Act and Liquidity Ordinance targeting systemically important banks such as UBS. The proposals would anchor a formal accountability regime in the Banking Act for banks with more than 250 employees, making clear who within a bank is responsible for which decisions, tighten limits on executive bonuses tied to risk-taking, and require stronger crisis preparedness. Switzerland's financial regulator FINMA has publicly welcomed the proposals as implementing measures from the official too-big-to-fail report and the parliamentary inquiry committee's report into the Credit Suisse collapse. The consultation runs until November 19, and the Federal Council intends to submit the bill to Parliament in 2027, with the earliest possible entry into force in 2029. This is a separate regulatory track from the capital adequacy reform the Federal Council adopted in April, which would require UBS to fully back its foreign subsidiaries with core capital at an estimated cost of roughly $20 billion. Running two parallel tracks, one on capital and one on accountability and bonuses, shows Bern deliberately unbundling the too-big-to-fail overhaul into separate pieces, likely to manage the political and lobbying resistance a single combined package would face from the country's only remaining global bank. Sources: FINMA, SRF.