UBS agreed to buy Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.26 billion) in stock a week ago and to assume up to 5 billion francs in losses in a merger engineered by Swiss authorities during a period of market turmoil in global banking. Credit Suisse on Sunday declined to comment on the FINMA President's comments when asked by Reuters for a response. Asked whether FINMA is looking into holding current Credit Suisse managers accountable for the collapse of Switzerland's second-largest bank, Amstad said it is "exploring the options".
"CS had a cultural problem that translated into a lack of responsibilities," Amstad was quoted as saying by NZZ, adding: "Numerous mistakes were made over several years".
FINMA had conducted six public "enforcement proceedings" against Credit Suisse in recent years, Amstad said.
"We have intervened and used our strongest instruments," she
said of its previous moves.
Amstad also defended Switzerland's decision to write down 16
billion Swiss francs of Credit Suisse Additional Tier 1 (AT1)
debt, to zero as part of the forced rescue merger.
"The AT1 instruments contractually provide that they will be
fully written off in the event of a trigger event, in particular
the granting of extraordinary government support," Amstad said.
"The bonds were created precisely for such situations."
($1 = 0.9199 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Noele Illien; Editing by Alexander Smith)
