The UBS-Credit Suisse deal proves that, when the will is there, authorities can act quickly and ambitiously to mitigate systemic risks, even if the outcome is unpredictable. The same kind of bold, concerted leadership must now be applied to sovereign-debt crises and climate change.
GENEVA – The shotgun wedding of UBS and Credit Suisse was hastily arranged in the spirit of ensuring our collective safety. As Swiss National Bank Chair Thomas Jordan noted, Credit Suisse’s size and global network makes it a “a global systemically important bank,” and having UBS take it over – thereby forestalling a bankruptcy – “ensures that the systemically important function remains secure.” Might we dare to hope that a similar sense of urgency and ambitious deployment of resources be brought to bear on the compounding crises confronting more than half of the world’s low-income countries?
GENEVA – The shotgun wedding of UBS and Credit Suisse was hastily arranged in the spirit of ensuring our collective safety. As Swiss National Bank Chair Thomas Jordan noted, Credit Suisse’s size and global network makes it a “a global systemically important bank,” and having UBS take it over – thereby forestalling a bankruptcy – “ensures that the systemically important function remains secure.” Might we dare to hope that a similar sense of urgency and ambitious deployment of resources be brought to bear on the compounding crises confronting more than half of the world’s low-income countries?