UBS has completed the most complex stage of its integration of Credit Suisse, with executives marking the milestone in a typically Swiss fashion: the ringing of oversized cowbells.
The lender this week completed the transfer of 1.2mn of its former rival’s clients on to its own systems after a 10-month operation involving more than 80,000 tests and 132,000 hours of staff training.
The integration stems from UBS’s state-orchestrated takeover of Credit Suisse in March 2023, when it agreed to step in to prevent its competitor’s collapse. The combination is the first between two global systemically important banks and one of the most intricate integrations in the sector’s history.