SWITZERLAND - Switzerland's parliamentary audit commissions have said they would have liked to see more vigorous action by the government against UBS and that they were "not convinced" by the bank's transparency reports.
In a joint press release, the commissions for the upper and lower houses of parliament said they were "disappointed" the government failed to follow its recommendation to start legal action against former UBS board members for their role in the bank's financial troubles.
The commissions (Geschäftsprüfungskommissionen GPK) had suggested the government ask state-related institutional investors such as the civil servants fund Publica or the first-pillar reserve fund AHV to join legal action against the bank.
However, the GPK now acknowledged the government did not have the right to force the funds into such proceedings or the legal grounds to force the UBS to start legal action against former board members.
Still, the commissions said they wished the government had taken "more vigorous action" against the bank, adding that they were "not convinced" by the bank's efforts to improve transparency.
The GPK criticised the fact the government had not been included in these efforts, which included the drawing up of a transparency report and an expert report. It also complained that the experts had not been "completely independent".
Further, UBS should have looked into its cross-border business in more detail, it said.
Another point of criticism was the lack of cooperation within the government and the denial of GPK's demand for minutes of government meetings to enable parliament to reconstruct the government's decision-making process.
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