Key Insights
- UBS outlines timeline for integrating Credit Suisse operations after 2023 acquisition deal
- Plans to merge U.S. units by Q2 2024, Swiss entities in Q3 2024
- Legal mergers seen as prerequisite to unlocking full cost savings and synergies
ZURICH (MarketsXplora) – UBS Group (UBSG.S) on Tuesday disclosed more details on its planned merger with Credit Suisse (CSGN.S), aiming to complete key legal entity combinations by mid-2024 as it marches toward unlocking full cost savings.
Switzerland’s biggest bank expects to meld its U.S. operations into a single unit by second-quarter 2024 while merging the Swiss entities of both banks in the third quarter, it said in a statement.
The legal entity integrations will enable the first customer migrations and decommissioning of Credit Suisse technology platforms later in 2024, UBS added.
UBS announced its $5 billion all-share takeover of scandal-hit Credit Suisse last March, trumping an earlier capital injection plan. Shareholders and regulators have since waved through the deal which will create the continent’s second-biggest bank.
“Completing the mergers of our significant legal entities is a critical step in enabling us to unlock the next phase of the cost, capital and funding synergies we expect to realize in 2025 and 2026,” UBS said.
The bank has previously detailed anticipated annual cost savings of around $1 billion from combining support functions, IT systems and other measures it hopes will revive profits depressed by low interest rates and market turmoil.
UBS closed its takeover of Credit Suisse’s holding company in June and gained control of the business in October, aiming to fully absorb its smaller Zurich-based rival by mid-2025.