Credit Suisse’s problems began years ago: UBS CEO

Zurich: The boss of Swiss bank UBS promised a “360 degree investigation” into its stricken domestic rival Credit Suisse, ahead of the two merging into a new megabank.

The Swiss government strongarmed UBS into buying its rival for $3.25 billion after the collapse of three US lenders in March raised concerns about Credit Suisse’s own financial health, following a series of scandals in recent years.

UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti, who returned to Switzerland’s biggest bank last month to handle the merger, said it was “crystal clear, the situation hasn’t developed in the last six weeks, but in the last six or seven years”.

“This comprehensive, 360-degree investigation must go back a long way,” Ermotti told the Swiss Media Forum in Lucerne, reported the Swiss news agency ATS.

A full review into the causes of the troubles at Credit Suisse is important because of the speed with which it was agreed that UBS would take over the troubled bank, he said.

“A lot of things happening now would take a year in normal circumstances,” Ermotti said. Credit Suisse was shaken by a series of scandals in recent years, including the bankruptcy of British financial firm

Greensill.