UBS has pushed back against demands by major shareholder Artisan Partners to leave Switzerland, highlighting growing investor pressure amid political calls for tougher capital requirements. Artisan Partners, which manages over 60 million UBS shares and ranks among the bank's top shareholders, said in a letter to the board that Switzerland was no longer an attractive location for the country's largest bank. The US asset manager also called on the board to consider moving its headquarters.
UBS responded that its goal was to continue operating successfully as a global bank from Switzerland, and said it would protect shareholders' interests and continue lobbying for regulation that was targeted, proportionate and internationally aligned.
Artisan's intervention comes after Switzerland's upper house rejected a compromise that would have softened stringent new capital requirement rules proposed by the federal government following the collapse of UBS rival Credit Suisse in 2023. The government proposed forcing UBS to cover 100 percent of the value of its foreign subsidiaries with common equity tier one (CET1), the most expensive form of bank capital. Artisan said the proposed rules would force UBS to increase its CET1 capital from $56 billion to $72 billion.
This is the second significant UBS shareholder to publicly urge the bank to leave Switzerland, following Cevian Capital's similar stance last year.
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