End of the road for Credit Suisse as UBS completes historic merger

Swiss banking giant UBS has completed its takeover of Credit Suisse, marking the end of the road for the failed lender which has formally ceased to exist.

UBS said on Friday that it had achieved a “significant milestone” in merging the two businesses.

Credit Suisse was rescued by the rival Switzerland-based bank in March last year in a deal worth 3.25 billion US dollars (£2.6 billion).

It was a major takeover of the stricken bank which was trying to turn around its fortunes but had seen its share price tank over a matter of days.

Its finances had been worn down over several years and it recorded heavy losses in the lead up to its demise, facing volatility in the financial markets and a surge of customers withdrawing money.

It was also embroiled in a string of fraud and misconduct scandals.

UBS has taken steps since the takeover to trim down significantly Credit Suisse’s investment bank which was said to have “cultural issues”.

It has been driving significant cost-cutting since the takeover, and earlier this raised its cost-saving target to 13 billion US dollars (£10.2 billion) by the end of 2026.

The former boss of Credit Suisse, Ulrich Korner, is set to step away from the newly combined bank later this year.

UBS’s chief executive Sergio Ermotti said the merger was “critical to facilitating the migration of clients onto UBS platforms”.

While customers of the now-defunct Credit Suisse have automatically become UBS customers, some will temporarily keep using Credit Suisse platforms to interact with UBS.

Meanwhile, the merger of the two Swiss divisions is still going ahead and is expected to complete between July and September.