Entry of new evidence submitted based on statements made by UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti

As mentioned in the publication dated 24 June 2025, UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti made statements at an event for alumni of the Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne that directly contradict UBS's arguments in the proceedings before the Commercial Court. Due to the importance of this contradiction, the Swiss Association for the Protection of Investors (Schweizerischer Anlegerschutzverein, SASV) brought these statements to the court's attention in a new submission on 1 July 2025.

During the aforementioned event, Sergio Ermotti admitted that the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS was ‘unnecessary’ and that Credit Suisse could have been restructured independently instead. The restructured Credit Suisse would have continued to exist on a smaller scale.

The most important passages from Sergio Ermotti's remarks during his conversation with David Bach are quoted in Arthur Rutishauser's Tagesanzeiger article:

"[...] Incidentally, “too big to fail” (TBTF) worked. Although it is tragic and unnecessary, Credit Suisse no longer exists. It either had to be taken over by us – it is undergoing resolution and liquidation within UBS – or CS could have carried out its own liquidation. And I can assure you that this would have worked without the taxpayer losing a single pound. Because regardless of how the business was run, the capital position and balance sheet were strong enough to liquidate the bank under the current regime. What we would have today if UBS, for whatever reason, had not been part of the solution would be a Credit Suisse roughly the size of a cantonal bank. Added to this would be a few international asset management businesses that would be attached.

[...]

This is not just my opinion. Every single expert who was in the FSB (Financial Stability Board), the banking experts and all the others, were clear: a restructuring of Credit Suisse would be possible, and Credit Suisse would have had equity capital on the first day that was four times higher than the minimum requirements.

These statements contradict UBS's (main) argument repeatedly put forward in the proceedings, according to which Credit Suisse would have gone bankrupt without the merger and shareholders would have been left completely empty-handed.

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