Julius Baer CEO Says Switzerland's Position As World's Banker To Super-Rich Isn't 'God Given'

Philipp Rickenbacher, the chief executive of Swiss lender Julius Baer, reportedly said Switzerland's position as the world's banker to the super-rich is not "god given" and that the Swiss government and regulators should better communicate with worried international investors.

"Things will remain very complicated — everything that was there a month ago will not go away," Rickenbacher told the Financial Times while speaking about central banks' rapid policy rate hikes and the resulting stress on the financial system. "There's still some room for policy mistakes at the highest levels when it comes to interest rates . . . everyone's senses are sharpened right now," he said.

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Complexity: Rickenbacher also noted the Swiss financial marketplace was an "outstanding ecosystem" but was facing challenges. "It is obvious that Swiss banks being in the international press is adding to this pressure and we as Swiss bankers have to respond," he said.

Talking about the merger of Credit Suisse Group AG CS and UBS Group AG UBS, Rickenbacher said the integration of that order of magnitude will take a lot of resources and effort and will involve a lot of complexity.

"‘Too Big to Fail' [regulations] were designed to solve one problem . . . and in this case, they could not solve that problem," the Julius Baer CEO said. "[My] gut feeling and moral compass says that a private institution should be able to fail, and that is a good starting point," he added.

The Credit Suisse takeover by UBS has left many investors worried and this is reflected in the market for additional tier-1 (AT1) bonds as well. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc MUFG has reportedly delayed the issuance of AT1 bonds to mid-May or later from its earlier timeline of late April.

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