On Thursday 25 May, the European Commission authorised, under the Merger Regulation (EC/139/2004), the unconditional acquisition of the assets and activities of the ailing banking group Credit Suisse Group AG by its competitor UBS Group AG.
Both establishments are global banking groups, both based in Switzerland, offering services in all the main areas of banking and financial services.
The planned merger, notified on 26 April, will create a systemically important banking giant.
Once the merger has been completed, Credit Suisse will no longer have any legal existence. Only UBS will remain. The assets, liabilities and contracts of the Credit Suisse Group will be transferred to UBS in their entirety.
The Commission found that the merger would not raise competition concerns in the European Economic Area (EEA). Following its market investigation, the Commission concluded that the proposed concentration would not significantly impede effective competition on the markets where the activities of the two parties overlap within the EEA, particularly on the markets for wealth management, asset management and investment banking in the EEA.
In particular, the Commission considered that, due to the quality and number of competitors active on the relevant markets, the merged entity (UBS) would continue to face significant competitive pressure.
On 2 April, the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office confirmed to AFP that it had opened investigations into the circumstances surrounding the emergency takeover of Credit Suisse Group AG by UBS Group AG.
Link to the description of the transaction in the European Commission’s register: https://aeur.eu/f/73o (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)