Three separate European developments are beginning to point in the same direction. What does that mean for Swiss finance?
The ECB has raised its deposit facility rate to 2.5%, while the SNB remains at 0%.
CRD VI will increasingly require non-EU banks providing core banking services to EU clients to operate through an EU branch or subsidiary.
And the EU’s Savings and Investments Union has an explicit ambition: mobilise more European savings towards European investment.
Different institutions. Different mandates. Different objectives.
But taken together, they could gradually change the economics of where European capital is held, intermediated and ultimately invested.
For Swiss banks and wealth managers, the immediate questions are practical.
Does EUR liquidity become structurally more attractive to clients?
How much EU-related banking activity progressively moves inside the EU regulatory perimeter?
Does an EU banking presence become more strategically important?
And if Europe succeeds in creating deeper channels between European savings and European investment, what does that mean for Switzerland’s position as an international financial centre?
The interesting question is what should Switzerland make more attractive, easier or structurally better in response.
- Its currency?
- Its investment ecosystem?
- Its access to private markets?
- Its regulatory framework?
- Its cross-border architecture?
- Or simply the quality and distinctiveness of what Swiss financial institutions offer?
Europe is changing the architecture around capital. What should Switzerland do differently as a result?