‘Study of marriage between Swiss banking giants’ | Financial

Sources reported this to Bloomberg news agency. For the time being, UBS chairman Axel Weber would only have discussed the matter with advisers and not with the bank’s board. Also, there are currently no formal negotiations on a merger of Switzerland’s two largest banks, the insiders said.

In the past, the two banks would have discussed merging certain office activities to save costs, and now Weber would be studying the possibility of a mega merger between UBS and Credit Suisse.

Incidentally, a combination of the financial groups would probably encounter strong objections from competition authorities, making analysts skeptical that a deal will actually be closed. UBS would have looked at a possible merger with Deutsche Bank last year, but those talks stalled at an early stage, according to sources.

Former ING CEO Ralph Hamers will take over the helm from CEO Sergio Ermotti at UBS this autumn.

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