Banking in Switzerland

Swiss banking giant UBS reported better-than-expected earnings on Wednesday as the integration of Credit Suisse led to lower costs.

The group reported a net profit of more than $1.1 billion for the quarter from April to June, well above the median analyst forecast of $608 million.

The merger between banks Credit Suisse and UBS could see up to 36,000 jobs being cut across the world, the SonntagsZeitung weekly reported yesterday.

The takeover by UBS of Credit Suisse was hastily arranged by the Swiss government on March 19 to prevent a global financial meltdown, following fears of contagion from the collapse of banks in the United States.

Swiss Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter said the government's decision to provide liquidity support to UBS Group AG and Credit Suisse was made with the aim of maintaining financial stability and not simply a desire to save a troubled institution.

The Swiss bank Credit Suisse will take a short-term loan of up to 50 billion Swiss francs from the Swiss National Bank.

The bank, whose shares collapsed yesterday on the Swiss stock exchange, announced in parallel a series of debt buybacks for around 3 billion Swiss francs. Yesterday, the bank's share price fell by 24.24 percent.

Credit Suisse bank, still reeling from losing billions of dollars last year, faced a fresh challenge Sunday: allegations from an international investigation that it had handled dirty money for decades.

Switzerland changes the calculation of the guarantee for taxpayers who are not domiciled in the country, announced the Embassy of Bulgaria in Bern and the Executive Agency for Promotion of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.

The Sofia City Court has dropped a money laundering probe against Hristo Biserov, the ex-Deputy Speaker of Bulgaria's Parliament.

The Bulgarian prosecutor's office has three months to decide what steps it will take in the money laundering probe against former deputy speaker of parliament Hristo Biserov.

The former deputy chairperson of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) made use of his right and has asked for the probe into money laundering against him to be suspended or referred to court.

Parliament adopted its stance on a deal with Switzerland to make it harder for EU citizens to hide cash from the tax man in Swiss bank accounts, in a vote on Tuesday. Under the deal, the EU and Switzerland will automatically exchange information on the bank accounts of each other’s residents, starting in 2018.

A group of lawmakers called for the resignation of the speaker of Brazil's lower house of Congress, Eduardo Cunha, on Oct.1 after Switzerland provided Brazilian prosecutors with details of Swiss bank accounts in his name.