UBS chair Kelleher is said to have met US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
Keystone / Georgios Kefalas
United States Senator Elizabeth Warren has written to UBS bank Chair Colm Kelleher asking for details of any discussions he may have had with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over a potential relocation of the bank to the US.
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In a letter dated December 9 and seen by Bloomberg News, Warren requested Kelleher provide a summary of interactions with Bessent and any other officials with whom he may have interacted in recent months on the topic — including if he’d been offered incentives to relocate the global wealth manager amid its standoff with the Swiss government on capital.
“Have you asked for, or has Secretary Bessent or any other senior Trump Administration official promised, favorable regulatory or supervisory treatment upon UBS’s move to the United States?” Warren, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, wrote. “If so, please describe the nature of such commitments.”
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UBS chair talked to Scott Bessent about moving bank to US
Kelleher reportedly held talks with Bessent earlier this year as UBS continues to explore its options amid uncertainty over Switzerland’s upcoming capital reforms. The two privately discussed what a move could look like with the Trump administration “receptive” to welcoming UBS, the Financial Times reported.
UBS denials
Warren also addressed the Treasury secretary in a separate letter asking him to detail any discussions with Kelleher. She similarly warned Bessent that the US should not enable UBS to actively seek a new jurisdiction as a means of avoiding regulatory safeguards put in place by the Swiss government in the aftermath of the collapse of Credit Suisse and its subsequent takeover by UBS.
UBS hasn’t confirmed the meeting, and CEO Sergio Ermotti has subsequently described talk about the bank relocating as “BS.”
“As we have said repeatedly, we want to continue to operate successfully as a global bank out of Switzerland,” UBS said in a statement. “UBS has a unique, sustainable, globally diversified business model which has proven itself even in extraordinary situations and serves as an anchor of resilience, stability and prosperity.”
Treasury didn’t reply to emails seeking comment on the letters.
Speculation around UBS’s possible interest in moving out of Switzerland has repeatedly arisen this year in the wake of the government’s proposed reform of financial regulation, which could add some $26 billion to its capital requirements. The bank argues the change would destroy its global competitiveness and has examined a range of mitigating options including relocation, Bloomberg has reported.
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UBS CEO Ermotti: ‘we never threatened to leave Switzerland’
Risk questions
UBS rescued Credit Suisse in 2023, creating a bank with a balance sheet over twice the size of Switzerland’s annual economic output. During the same period, the US dealt with the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, for which Warren explicitly blamed the 2018 law that rolled back regulations for mid-sized lenders, arguing these failures were “entirely avoidable” if strong oversight had remained in place.
Warren expressed concern over the risk that UBS would pose to US taxpayers given the “significant regulatory, legal, financial, and operational challenges” related to the acquisition of Credit Suisse.
“It is deeply troubling that a global Too-Big-To-Fail bank appears to be actively shopping for a new home country as a means of avoiding regulatory safeguards designed to prevent financial crashes,” Warren wrote to Kelleher.
Kelleher, who spent decades working for Morgan Stanley including a period in New York, has often spoken positively about the US as a financial centre and a significant market opportunity. As chairman of UBS, he has expressed interest in acquiring a US-based wealth manager to boost the Swiss lender’s presence in a market that it has struggled to achieve scale in.
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