RBI allows UBS-acquired Credit Suisse to retain Indian banking license: Report

The Reserve Bank of India has now allowed UBS-acquired Credit Suisse to retain the banking license in its name in India, according to a report published by ET NOW on Wednesday. UBS has hired Morgan Stanley’s Tom Wipf to help lead the Credit Suisse tie-up. 

UBS is dealing with the integration of Credit Suisse Group AG’s business after the bank’s emergency takeover. UBS is reportedly planning to cut more than half of Credit Suisse’s workforce.

It had also announced changes to the executive board of Credit Suisse AG in an internal memo circulated after the Swiss bank announced it had officially closed the takeover of its former rival.

The closing of the deal, announced in an open letter, ends Credit Suisse’s independent existence after 167 years and allows UBS to move forward with the complex integration of the former rival, a process that’s likely to involve thousands of job cuts.

The acquisition, agreed in March in an emergency rescue brokered by the Swiss government, sets UBS up for a windfall gain in the tens of billions of dollars, while saddling it with potential mark-downs of Credit Suisse assets as well as legal and regulatory costs.

The closing of the deal comes after UBS finalized negotiations with the Swiss government over a 9 billion Swiss franc ($10 billion) guarantee against potential losses on Credit Suisse assets.

UBS also has yet to make a decision on the future of the Swiss domestic business it acquired from Credit Suisse, a part of the lender that had been consistently profitable amid the turmoil elsewhere and had played a leading role in financing Swiss companies and households.

Originally, UBS planned to fully integrate the local unit but later backtracked, with Ermotti saying that all options were on the table, including sale or spinoff. UBS said it would make a decision in the third quarter of this year.

UBS has said it also plans to have detailed integration plans for each of the business units, as well as a defined plan for specific activities it will wind down in a non-core unit by the fourth quarter.