UBS shares rise 4.5% after Swiss government proposes tough new capital rules

Why are UBS shares rallying after the Swiss government proposed tough new capital rules?

Shares of the bank jumped as much as 6% after Switzerland announced highly-anticipated capital regulations calling on UBS to hold an additional $26 billion in Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital.

Johann Scholtz, senior equity analyst at Morningstar, says the proposals are “as bad as it will get for UBS” — but that could give the bank some breathing room to lobby for concessions.

“As we expected, there will be a long phase-out for UBS to deploy this, with the earliest that it will apply in full being 2034,” says Johann Scholtz, senior equity analyst at Morningstar.

“However, negotiations will start immediately,” he added. That means UBS “can now lobby for some concessions and take some actions themselves to mitigate impact, for instance upstream some excess capital from its subsidiaries,” according to the analyst.

— Ganesh Rao

Shares of UBS rose 5.4% after the Swiss government proposed strict new capital regulations which would require the banking giant to hold an additional $26 billion in core capital, following its 2023 takeover of stricken rival Credit Suisse.

The move comes on the heels of a review carried out after the forced merger of Credit Suisse with UBS to avert a full-blown banking crisis in Switzerland.

“The rise in the going-concern requirement needs to be met with up to USD 26 billion of CET1 capital, to allow the AT1 bond holdings to be reduced by around USD 8 billion,” the government said in statement Friday, referring to UBS’ holding of Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds.

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— Ganesh Rao

On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury Department added nine economies to a “monitoring list” of trading partners “whose currency practices and macroeconomic policies merit close attention.”

Back in 2020, the U.S. Treasury, under the first Trump administration, labeled Switzerland a currency manipulator, accusing it of deliberately devaluing the Swiss franc against the U.S. dollar. The department stopped short of using the term “currency manipulator” on Thursday.

“The SNB does not engage in any manipulation of the Swiss franc,” the Swiss National Bank said in a statement on Friday. “It does not seek to prevent adjustments in the balance of trade or to gain unfair competitive advantages for the Swiss economy.”

A spokesperson for the SNB noted that it may need to intervene in foreign exchange markets if deemed necessary for the Swiss economy, which recently fell into disinflation as a soaring Swiss franc lowered the cost of imports.

The safe-haven Swiss franc, which has gained around 9.5% against the U.S. currency so far this year, was last seen trading 0.2% lower against the greenback.

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— Chloe Taylor

Stéphane Boujnah, CEO of Euronext, visited the CNBC studio in London this morning to chat to the “Squawk Box Europe” anchors about regional markets.

He said interest in Europe had already started to pick up “before the Trump moment,” but tariffs-induced volatility worsened the trend.

“Many people decided that if you want to have your money in a predictable environment, in a rule of law environment, in an environment where the basic assumption of capitalism operates, then Europe is not a bad place,” Boujnah said. “That translated into people shorting U.S. assets to move to Europe. It was not massive, but it’s significant and continuing.”

Euronext operates exchanges in several European markets, including Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Milan.

— Chloe Taylor

The Bank of Russia has announced it will cut interest rates to 20% from 21%, the first reduction since September 2022.

The inflation rate in April was 6.2%, it said, down from an average 8.2% across the first quarter of 2025.

“While domestic demand growth is still outstripping the capabilities to expand the supply of goods and services, the Russian economy is gradually returning to a balanced growth path,” the central bank said Friday, adding that monetary policy would remain tight “for a long period” in order to return inflation to its 4% target.

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— Jenni Reid

The European Stoxx Automobiles and Parts index is 0.5% lower in early trade, after electric vehicle behemoth Tesla saw $152 billion wiped from its market cap in the wake of CEO Elon Musk’s public spat with U.S. President Donald Trump.

The sector has already seen volatile trade this week, as investors reacted to Trump doubling tariffs on steel to 50%.

BMW is currently 1% lower, while Volkswagen shares are 0.9% lower and Stellantis is down 0.8%.

— Chloe Taylor

Europe’s Stoxx 600 index is fractionally higher at 8:17 a.m. London time, up around 0.02%, coming off the back of three positive sessions.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 is leading the way with a 0.15% rise as oil and gas stocks advance amid higher crude prices, though Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 are down 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively.

Good morning from London.

European stocks look set to turn lower in the last trading session of the week, as investors around the world await more key data for clues on the shape of the U.S. economy.

FTSE 100 futures are currently 0.1% lower, while futures tied to the French CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX are down by 0.4% and 0.1%, respectively.

Regional stocks ended Thursday’s session higher after the European Central Bank trimmed interest rates in a widely anticipated move.

U.S. nonfarm payrolls data is due to be published later on Friday, with economists expecting a contraction in jobs from the previous month.

Trade tensions are also still in focus for global investors after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Thursday. Trump said the 90-minute call was “very good” and “almost entirely” focused on trade.

— Chloe Taylor

Overnight in Asia, stocks have been trading in mixed territory as investors digest the news that Trump and Xi held what the U.S. President described as a “very good” call.

On Wall Street, U.S. stock futures are trading higher ahead of May’s nonfarm payrolls data.

— Chloe Taylor