(Bloomberg) -- Almost a quarter of Swiss manufacturing and industrial companies have experienced worsening terms on loans or deteriorating service from UBS Group AG since the takeover of Credit Suisse, according to details of a survey published by the Neue Zürcher Zeitung am Sonntag.
The percentage of respondents who gave a negative response to the survey has more than doubled since last year, the newspaper reported. It cited the questionnaire run by Swissmem, the country’s largest lobbying group for manufacturers in the machinery, electrical engineering and metals industry.
“We are disappointed in the bank,” Swissmem President Martin Hirzel was quoted as saying. “We fear that this trend will continue as many companies are only now beginning to re-negotiate loans.”
UBS has faced persistent accusations in Switzerland that it is using its increased market presence since the emergency takeover of Credit Suisse in 2023 to raise prices for its customers. In its defense, UBS executives have countered that many Credit Suisse businesses in the local market had unsustainably low margins.
“The adjustment of credit conditions reflect the massive changes in the economic environment,” a UBS spokesperson told NZZ am Sonntag.
Last week the head of the Swiss market for UBS, Sabine Keller-Busse, said that the bank will continue to provide about 350 billion Swiss francs ($412 billion) in credit to its home market, as a sign of commitment. The bank will deploy its balance sheet in a “much smarter” way than Credit Suisse did, she said.
That process involves re-negotiating contracts with former Credit Suisse clients which, according to NZZ, had been agreed at “dumping prices” to try to retain customers as the defunct bank faced its end.
(Adds paragraph on previous Credit Suisse pricing.)
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