A decade has past since UBS' near-death, but some of the principals are still passing the buck, an analysis by finews.asia shows.
A barrage of remembrances of UBS' rescue in October 2008 makes clear that the principals are still in disagreement – and still feel they need to justify their actions at the time.
«In my view, the Swiss government's taking a stake wasn't necessary, but the financing help by the central bank was,» Oswald Gruebel (pictured below) told «Aargauer Zeitung» (in German) in an interview. The ex-CEO of both major Swiss banks had left Credit Suisse just as the first signs of the financial crisis were surfacing in 2007, and took the top job at UBS one year later (in 2009).
Ample Liquidity
Peter Kurer (pictured below) has gone one step further. As chairman of UBS during the rescue, Kurer said recently he was effectively presented the October 2008 bailout package as a fait accompli by the government, central bank, and financial regulator Finma.
To this day, Kurer is of the view that the rescue wasn't necessary. «UBS had enough liquidity even without the bailout,» he told «NZZ am Sonntag» (behind paywall, in German) two weeks ago. However, UBS hadn't been able to summon enough capital on the short, ten-day notice given, according to Kurer.
«Late Whitewashing»
Not surprisingly, Daniel Zuberbuehler (pictured below), head of the Swiss Banking Commission (now known as Finma) at the time, disagrees.
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