London (CNN) — UBS has finalized its emergency takeover of fallen rival Credit Suisse, creating a giant Swiss bank with nearly $1.7 trillion in assets in the biggest banking tie-up since the 2008 global financial crisis.
The legal closure of the acquisition “brings clarity and stability for the two banks,” Switzerland’s financial regulator FINMA said in a statement Monday. “FINMA welcomes UBS’s strategic focus, which foresees a rapid reduction of risk in investment banking.”
UBS (UBS) agreed on March 19 to buy Credit Suisse (CS) for the bargain price of 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.25 billion) in a rescue orchestrated by Swiss authorities to avert a banking sector meltdown. The government has said that allowing Credit Suisse (CS) — one of the world’s 30 most important banks — to fail would probably have triggered an international financial crisis.