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UBS has been ordered by a Zurich court to open internal valuation documents to former Credit Suisse shareholders, in a ruling that adds to mounting legal and political scrutiny of Switzerland’s biggest bank.
A Zurich court this month ordered UBS to grant thousands of Credit Suisse shareholder plaintiffs access to internal documents submitted as part of their legal challenge to the bank’s 2023 takeover of its former rival, according to a statement on Monday from the Swiss Investor Protection Association (SASV), which represents investors.
Plaintiffs may inspect specific UBS-produced documents that have been entered into the case record and catalogued by the judges, the court found. UBS had argued that access should be limited to a narrower set of materials relied upon by court-appointed experts.
The valuation dispute forms part of a broader web of post-crisis litigation and regulatory scrutiny surrounding UBS. The bank is already navigating a heated domestic debate over post-merger capital requirements and ongoing litigation stemming from the wipeout of Credit Suisse’s AT1 bondholders.
SASV represents more than 2,500 plaintiffs in the legal challenge, which includes bigger pension funds as well as individual retail investors and former Credit Suisse employees.
The court had earlier appointed independent experts to determine Credit Suisse’s equity value at the time of the rescue — a central question in the case — and this month’s disclosure ruling concerns access to the documents underlying that assessment.
Arik Röschke, general secretary of SASV, described the procedural ruling as “hugely important” because it gave plaintiffs access to the full body of documents underpinning the court-appointed expert’s report.
“Without this access, shareholders would have been limited to heavily redacted versions and unable to determine whether key information had been omitted or overlooked. Nor would they have been in a position to properly scrutinise the expert’s findings,” he said.
UBS declined to comment.
Plaintiffs argue that the exchange ratio agreed in UBS’s government-brokered rescue of Credit Suisse in 2023 materially undervalued the bank. Under the deal, investors received one UBS share for every 22.48 Credit Suisse shares, equivalent to about SFr0.76 a share at the time.
While the documents can only be inspected on site at the court and cannot be copied, the decision expands visibility for shareholders seeking to scrutinise UBS’s internal valuation models and assessments prepared ahead of the emergency merger.
If the court determines that Credit Suisse’s “going concern” value was materially higher than reflected in the takeover terms, UBS could face multibillion-franc compensation payments — an exposure that shareholder representatives have suggested could in extreme scenarios approach SFr50bn (about $65bn).
The development adds to UBS’s challenges as it integrates Credit Suisse. The bank has been at loggerheads with the government since the rescue over plans to force it to back its foreign subsidiaries with an extra $23bn in common equity tier one capital — the most expensive form of bank capital.
There is also continuing litigation from the 2023 deal. In October, a court found that a writedown of nearly SFr16.5bn in Credit Suisse bonds lacked a sufficient legal basis. Both UBS and Swiss regulator Finma are appealing against the decision over the additional tier 1 (AT1) bonds.
UBS shares rose 1.7 per cent in afternoon trading in Zurich to SFr32.66.