Swiss to guarantee bank deposits up to CHF 100,000

5 November 2008

BERN – The Swiss government proposed Wednesday to raise the state-required guarantee for bank deposits to CHF 100,000 from the current CHF 30,000.

If approved by the Swiss parliament, the threshold would be higher than the EUR 50,000 (CHF 75,200) limit recently agreed by the European Union to increase confidence in the crisis-hit banking sector.

Switzerland, which is not a member of the 27-nation EU, would increase the overall amount set aside by banks to safeguard deposits to CHF 6 billion from the current CHF 4 billion, the federal finance department said.

Switzerland’s biggest bank UBS AG had to approach the government for help because of liquidity problems and received a USD 60 billion (CHF 70 billion) bailout package. UBS had suffered losses and writedowns of more than CHF 45 billion over the past year.

On Tuesday, the Zurich-based bank reported its first small profit after four consecutive quarterly losses.

[AP / Expatica]