Battle Over UBS Capital Rules in Parliament
Switzerland’s lower house this week narrowly voted down a motion to delay the government’s planned capital rule tightening for UBS. What does this signal for the path ahead?
The attempt by members of parliament Beat Walti (FDP, Zurich) and Céline Amaudruz (SVP, Vaud) to put an early stop to Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter’s (FDP) plans was defeated in the National Council yesterday by 86 votes to 104, with four abstentions.
The SVP faction voted almost unanimously in favor of the Walti/Amaudruz motion. The only dissenters were Werner Vontobel and Andreas Gafner of the EDU party, who are also organized within the SVP group.
FDP Split
The FDP presented a divided picture. Thirteen of its representatives supported the motion (including all Zurich FDP members of parliament), thereby opposing their own finance minister. Ten voted against, among them the likely new co-president Susanne Vinzenz-Stauffacher.
The Center Party rejected the motion by 29 votes to two. The only ones siding against strict capital rules at this stage were Zurich’s Philipp Kutter and Basel-Landschaft representative Elisabeth Schneider-Schneiter.
SVP and Greens vs. Keller-Sutter
A surprise came from the Green Liberals, who, like the SVP, unanimously backed the parliamentary initiative.
The left-wing parties SP and the Greens voted solidly against the motion.
No Decision in Substance
Substantively, little has been decided. Supporters of Keller-Sutter’s tougher capital course also pointed to procedural arguments. The finance minister herself criticized the unusual use of the motion instrument by Walti and Amaudruz: «Normally, a motion is used by parliament to instruct the government to act. Here, the government is instructed not to act. I have actually never seen anything like this.»
For UBS, the situation remains favorable. The bank needs only about ten more parliamentarians on its side and must ensure that yesterday’s alliance otherwise holds together.
Plenty of Time
Debates on the forthcoming legal revisions by the government will not take place until next year or even the year after.
That leaves UBS with ample time to bring part of the Center Party, which tends to position itself flexibly and is thus susceptible to lobbying, to its side, or perhaps even the entire FDP.
