Sergio Ermotti, CEO of Swiss banking giant UBS, during the group's annual shareholders meeting in Zurich on May 2, 2013.
Fabrice Coffrini | Afp | Getty ImagesSwitzerland's tough new banking regulations create a "lose-lose situation" for UBS and may limit its potential to challenge Wall Street giants, according to Beat Wittmann, partner at Zurich-based Porta Advisors.
The government-backed takeover was the biggest merger of two systemically important banks since the Global Financial Crisis.
At $1.7 trillion, the UBS balance sheet is now double the country's annual GDP, prompting enhanced scrutiny of the protections surrounding the Swiss banking sector and the broader economy in the wake of the Credit Suisse collapse.
The Wednesday report floated giving additional powers to the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, applying capital surcharges and fortifying the financial position of subsidiaries — but stopped short of recommending a "blanket increase" in capital requirements.
Persons:
Sergio Ermotti, Fabrice Coffrini, Beat Wittmann, Wittmann, Wittman, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley —
Organizations:
UBS, Afp, Getty, Wall, Porta Advisors, Swiss, Credit Suisse, Suisse, Swiss Financial Market, Authority, JPMorgan, Citigroup
Locations:
Zurich, Switzerland