C-03-11

In a judgement published on 31 May 2024, the Federal Court had already confirmed that the fraudulent obtaining of a ‘COVID-19’ loan constituted fraud (ATF 150 IV 169, commented in Dupuis, cdbf.ch/1353). On the other hand, its case law was fluctuating with regard to the commission of the offence of forgery in relation to the presentation of the false credit application form to the lending bank. The judgement 6B_95/2024 of 6 February 2025, intended for publication, provided the answer of[...]

Since March 2020, more than 100,000 Swiss companies have made use of the bonded loans set up by the Confederation to make up for a lack of liquidity following the COVID-19 pandemic. The Swiss authorities' desire to respond quickly to an exceptional situation and to ensure rapid access to funds led them to introduce a facilitated procedure, based essentially on a self-declaration by the credit applicant, which has unfortunately seen its share of abuses. In a recent ruling to be[...]

All the players involved - CS/UBS, FINMA, the Swiss National Bank and the Federal Department of Finance - should begin by themselves examining the takeover of CS by UBS ordered by the authorities. This would provide a starting point and framework for parliamentary clarification, and facilitate a fact-based Swiss and international discussion on the regulation and supervision of globally systemically important banks such as the future UBS. A necessary update The takeover of CS by UBS, ordered by the authorities,[...]

The measures adopted by the Federal Council to ensure the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS represent a significant change of approach from the principles that guided the regulation of systemically important banks after the 2008 financial crisis. The scale of these changes is commensurate with the new crisis that the authorities are seeking to avert. It is all the more astonishing given that, despite the endless list of Credit Suisse defaults revealed in recent years, FINMA and the Swiss[...]