UBS and Credit Suisse: What Happened in 2023, and Where UBS Stands Now

For generations Credit Suisse was one of the two pillars of Swiss banking. It ended over a single weekend. After years of losses, scandals and client outflows, and a week of market panic, the Swiss authorities brokered a takeover by its larger rival on Sunday 19 March 2023.

What happened that weekend

• UBS agreed to buy Credit Suisse in an all-share deal valuing it at CHF 0.76 a share, about CHF 3 billion.
• The Federal Council used emergency powers so that no shareholder vote was needed.
• FINMA ordered a complete write-down of Credit Suisse's AT1 capital instruments, about CHF 16 billion.
• The Confederation backed Swiss National Bank liquidity to Credit Suisse with a guarantee of up to CHF 100 billion.

The AT1 write-down became the most contested part of the rescue, because bondholders were wiped out while shareholders still received UBS shares. For many investors it rewrote what they thought AT1 bonds meant.

The lesson for private clients was simple: a famous name is not a risk assessment.

What changed for clients

On 31 May 2024 UBS completed the merger of UBS AG and Credit Suisse AG. Credit Suisse AG ceased to exist as a separate entity and its clients became UBS AG clients, while for an interim period they kept using Credit Suisse platforms. Since then accounts, portfolios and systems have moved onto UBS infrastructure in stages.

For families who banked with both, two relationships became one. That changes concentration: your exposure to a single bank is now larger than it was, and you may now hold overlapping mandates, credit lines and products.

Where UBS stands now

In its third-quarter 2026 results, published on 28 October, UBS reported net profit of $2.7 billion, invested assets of $7.3 trillion and $55.1 billion of net new assets in wealth management. It said about 90% of the in-scope legacy Credit Suisse applications had been fully decommissioned, gross cost savings had reached $13.2 billion, and the integration was on track to be substantially completed by the end of 2026. Its share buybacks remain tied to Swiss parliamentary deliberations on how much capital it must hold against foreign subsidiaries.

Questions former Credit Suisse clients should ask

• Which UBS legal entity and booking centre now holds my assets?
• Have my fees, mandates or credit terms changed since migration, and where is that in writing?
• Is my exposure to one bank now higher than my own risk policy allows?
• Who is my relationship manager today, and who covers my account if they leave?