UBS said on Monday it had ended the emergency takeover of troubled rival Credit Suisse, turning it into a Swiss bank with a $1.6 trillion balance sheet and greater wealth management capacity.
Commenting on the biggest deal in the banking sector since the 2008 global financial crisis, UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti and Chairman Colm Kelleher said in an open letter published in Swiss newspapers that this is the beginning of a new chapter.
The group will manage $5 trillion in assets, giving UBS, the world's largest wealth manager, a leading position in key markets that it would have taken years to grow into. The merger also ended a 167-year history for Credit Suisse, which in recent years has been marked by scandals and losses.
The two banks together have 120,000 employees worldwide, yet UBS has already said it will cut jobs to take advantage of the merger and cut costs.
Credit Suisse faced the threat of collapse when its share prices fell more than 30 percent during the March 15 trading session, following the collapse of three US regional banks.
The Swiss government, central bank and financial regulators then stepped in and forced UBS to launch a $3.25 billion takeover, which was announced on March 19.
