Now that there's only one major bank in Switzerland, the country's central bank is revamping how it reports banking statistics.
It's always been possible to access information on the Swiss National Bank's (SNB) data portal by bank group sorted by the size and type of institution. Until now. The merger of UBS and Credit Suisse now makes that impossible due to confidentiality issues, according to a statement from the central bank Tuesday.
The SNB sorted the data into four subgroups consisting of major banks, Raiffeisen banks, cantonal banks, and regional and savings banks. Based on these divisions, it was possible to glean whether the major banks were losing or gaining market share in the mortgage business to Cantonal or Raiffeisen banks. May data for major banks showed a decline in mortgages, while volumes increased for the other bank categories overall.
Loss of Confidentiality
Publication by bank groups had previously been possible while maintaining confidentiality. But this changed when UBS officially took over Credit Suisse on June 12, leaving only one bank in the «major» group, which would allow competitors to see exactly UBS was doing.
«To continue to ensure data confidentiality, figures for the big bank category can therefore no longer be published,» the SNB said.
This spells the end for the subdivisions as a whole since the remaining bank groups no longer adequately reflect the structure of the banking sector. As of the June 30 reporting date, only data for «All banks» will be published, the SNB said.
Alternatives Under Review
This represents a blow to transparency and informative value, making it more difficult to identify trends in banking and determine the demand for credit within the Swiss economy.
The SNB is examining whether the publication of the previous bank group aggregates will be possible in the future for selected data, and is evaluating alternative reporting categories, the statement continues.
