The Office of the National Council, the lower house of the Swiss parliament, is calling for a parliamentary inquiry commission to be set up to examine details of the recent takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS.

The Office of the National Council voted unanimously in favour of the establishment of the Parliamentary Commission (PUK) to clarify the responsibilities of the authorities and bodies in connection with Credit Suisse’s takeover by UBS, it said.

The Council of States, the upper house of the parliament, will also have its say on the establishment of the commission.

UBS bought Credit Suisse for CHF3bn (€3bn), receiving a CHF9bn guarantee from the Swiss government for potential losses resulting from the transaction. The government also granted a CHF100bn default guarantee for liquidity assistance loans by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to Credit Suisse.

Credit Suisse received two liquidity backstops of CHF100bn each from SNB, including one backed by a federal default guarantee, while the financial market supervisory authority FINMA practically waived the assessment of the takeover.

The Finance Delegation of the Federal Assembly (FinDel) met for an extraordinary meeting on Sunday 19 March, the day the acquisition of Credit Suisse by UBS was announced, with the finance minister Karin Keller-Sutter and representatives of FINMA and SNB to discuss and approve emergency credit facilities.

The Office of the National Council has also set up a programme for the extraordinary parliamentary session to discuss, among other things, credits of CHF109bn decided by the Federal Council to secure the merger. The extraordinary session will take place on 11-13 April.

The urgency of the situation, with Credit Suisse on the brink of collapsing, had forced the government to circumvent normal parliamentary processes unsuitable to grant a default guarantee as it it a long process, the Federal Department of Finance said in a report explaining the new rules put in place to deal with the merger in a very short period of time

The Federal Council has created the necessary legal basis for the SNB to grant Credit Suisse additional liquidity support.

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Luigi is IPE's Berlin-based DACH correspondent. His coverage includes regulation and the latest pensions and investments trends, and, being a native Italian, he also covers Italy’s pensions market. He has reported from Italy and Germany on international politics and business for European and US publications including USA Today, Bloomberg BNA and for the investigative magazine L’Espresso. He was previously Germany correspondent for Mergermarket covering M&A.View full Profile

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