UBS bets on Ermotti to pull off the deal of the decade

March/April 2023 special coverage CREDIT SUISSE 1: UBS bets on Ermotti 2: Credit Suisse and UBS: The new risks 3: Crisis at Credit Suisse: How we got here 4: Rescue reinforces national champion trend 5: It's time to bail out Michael Klein US BANKS 1: The banking crisis and its consequences 2: Time to review liquidity coverage ratio 3: Regulators won't just target regionals 4: Bad news for others facing AOCI losses 5: HSBC's SVB deal is nimble and contrarian 6: Is hedging only good for Wall Street? 7: We saved the banks - was it worth it?

Sunday night, sign the banking deal of the decade; Monday morning, hire a big-name chief executive to run it.

Colm Kelleher does not waste time.

On the evening of Sunday March 19, after five days and nights of intense negotiations with the Swiss government, central bank and financial regulator over terms, the chairman of UBS presented the rescue takeover of Credit Suisse as a “historic day for Switzerland”.

Kelleher struggled to find the right tone between overstatement and understatement, saying: “While we did not initiate discussions, we believe this transaction is attractive for UBS shareholders.”

UBS