UBS agrees to buy Credit Suisse in shotgun merger

STORY: In a shotgun merger engineered by Swiss authorities and announced on Sunday, UBS will buy rival Swiss bank Credit Suisse for more than $3 billion, and assume up to $5.4 billion in losses.  

UBS Chair Colm Kelleher:

"We have agreed a framework of support with the Swiss regulators which ensures a successful integration in the best interest of Switzerland, and protects our shareholders."

The deal won applause from other central bankers keen to avoid further market-shaking turmoil.

Officials have been racing to rescue the 167-year-old bank, among the world's largest wealth managers, after a brutal last week saw two U.S. lenders - Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank - collapse.

"This is no bailout. This is a commercial solution."

Swiss Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter said the deal would prevent a crisis of confidence in Credit Suisse that could ripple through global financial markets.

"The bankruptcy of Credit Suisse would have had a collateral damage - a huge collateral damage - on the Swiss financial market. Also a risk of contagion for UBS and other banks, and also internationally."

At least two major banks in Europe are examining scenarios of contagion possibly spreading in the region's banking sector and looking to the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank to step in with stronger signals of support, two senior executives with knowledge of the discussions said.

In a sign of a coordinated global response, the European Central Bank vowed to support euro zone banks with loans if needed, adding the Swiss rescue of Credit Suisse was "instrumental" for restoring calm.