by Cleaning up: Ralph Hamers reckons people trust bankers again © Keystone / Christian Beutler Swiss banks have some catching up to do when it comes to structural change and digitalisation, says Ralph Hamers, CEO of Swiss bank UBS. In his opinion structural change has taken place much faster in other countries and industries than in Switzerland. For example, the dynamics in Asia and Scandinavia are significantly greater, Hamers told newspaper BlickExternal link in an interview on Monday. Also in the Netherlands, Hamers’ home country, the public now does everything digitally, from shopping to banking, he said. “This also has to do with the culture,” he said. “UBS has almost three million clients in Switzerland. We don’t want to force them to do anything they don’t
Topics:
Swissinfo considers the following as important: 3) Swiss Markets and News, 3.) Swissinfo Business and Economy, Featured, Latest News, newsletter
This could be interesting, too:
Nachrichten Ticker - www.finanzen.ch writes Krypto-Ausblick 2025: Stehen Bitcoin, Ethereum & Co. vor einem Boom oder Einbruch?
Connor O'Keeffe writes The Establishment’s “Principles” Are Fake
Per Bylund writes Bitcoiners’ Guide to Austrian Economics
Ron Paul writes What Are We Doing in Syria?
Cleaning up: Ralph Hamers reckons people trust bankers again © Keystone / Christian Beutler
Swiss banks have some catching up to do when it comes to structural change and digitalisation, says Ralph Hamers, CEO of Swiss bank UBS. In his opinion structural change has taken place much faster in other countries and industries than in Switzerland.
For example, the dynamics in Asia and Scandinavia are significantly greater, Hamers told newspaper BlickExternal link in an interview on Monday. Also in the Netherlands, Hamers’ home country, the public now does everything digitally, from shopping to banking, he said.
“This also has to do with the culture,” he said. “UBS has almost three million clients in Switzerland. We don’t want to force them to do anything they don’t want to do. The step towards digitalisation only works together.”
The Covid-19 pandemic has dispelled many reservations about digitalisation and accelerated it, he added.
Archegos debacle
Regarding structural change, Hamers said it was not always possible to avoid redundancies, “but at the same time [there are] new jobs and retraining”. The bottom line, for him, is that the number of employees remain roughly the same.
“We need employees who want to be part of the technological change. And we need specialists who are familiar with artificial intelligence and data.”
Hamers, who has been in office since November 2020 and replaced Sergio Ermotti, believes banks are in a much more stable position today following the Archegos debacle, in which UBS took an $861 million (CHF790 million) hit. Archegos, a family office which imploded in March, borrowed tens of billions of dollars from at least nine global banks to speculate on volatile stocks.
Banks today have significantly more capital cushion and liquidity, Hamers said.
“People trust bankers again,” he claimed.
Hamers’ legal woes
UBS said in January that board members were backing Ralph Hamers as he faces a lengthy Dutch legal battle over his role in a money-laundering scandal at his previous employer that has complicated efforts to put his stamp on the business.
Hamers, hit with a probe by the Dutch public prosecutor barely a month after taking over in November, faces an investigation that was expected to drag on for at least a year from the formal start of the process in February, according to Bloomberg who spoke to people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity.
Switzerland’s largest bank is contending with the risk that Hamers could be indicted for breaching anti-money-laundering and compliance rules while at the helm of ING Groep NV. That represents a second major legal issue, as the bank seeks to appeal a record fine for helping French clients dodge taxes.
Chairman Axel Weber has said he is confident that Hamers will make a good CEO, while declining to predict whether he can stay on. Before Christmas, UBS’s directors had gone as far as discussing possible contenders to replace Hamers in a worst-case scenario.
End of insertion
You Might Also Like
Weekly SNB Sight Deposits and Speculative Positions: Inflation is there, CHF must Rise
2021-06-28
Update June 28 2021: SNB intervening. Sight Deposits have risen by +0.4 bn CHF, this means that the SNB is intervening and buying Euros and Dollars.
Switzerland and WHO launch global pathogen BioHub
2021-05-25
Switzerland and the World Health Organization (WHO) have agreed to launch the first WHO BioHub Facility. This will enhance the rapid sharing of viruses and other pathogens between laboratories and partners globally.
Telecoms company Sunrise to axe 660 jobs
2021-04-28
Switzerland’s second biggest telecoms group, Sunrise UPC, says it will cut 600 jobs by the end of 2022, following UPC’s CHF6.8 billion ($7.4 billion) takeover of Sunrise Communications last year.
Foreign firms creating more jobs in Switzerland despite pandemic
2021-04-11
Switzerland has remained an attractive location for foreign firms, creating more jobs last year than in 2019 – despite the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, Swiss public television SRF and RTS have reported.
Pandemic pushes Swiss away from cash
2021-02-23
Cash has lost its appeal among the Swiss population as the coronavirus pandemic led more people to pay by bank card, mobile app or online, a recent survey has found.
Protecting livestock from predators costs Swiss taxpayers millions
2021-02-07
The federal government spends CHF4 million (around $4.4 million) a year to minimise the damage caused by predators like wolves and lynx.
Top Swiss banker Collardi reprimanded by financial watchdog
2021-01-21
Former Julius Bär CEO Boris Collardi has had his knuckles rapped by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) following an investigation into money laundering.
Swiss probing corruption linked to Lebanon central bank
2021-01-20
The Swiss attorney general’s office has requested legal assistance from Lebanon in the context of a probe into "aggravated money laundering" and possible embezzlement tied to the Lebanese central bank, Reuters reports from Beirut.
Tags: Featured,Latest news,newsletter