Gemeinsam für Zürich - Sabine Keller-Busse UBS Switzerland

We have certainly massively increased our crisis resilience, and today we understand very well what it takes to navigate banks even in a difficult market environment and thus always be there for our customers. UBS today has a very diversified business model, and that naturally helps us to generate stable earnings in a difficult environment, and the business model is now even a role model for many other banks.

The Swiss banks have made massive efforts and substantially increased their stability and security. Moreover, Switzerland has the strictest financial market regulation worldwide and the highest capital requirements for its banks. UBS's current business model is based on an extremely solid capital base, a smaller balance sheet with significantly lower risks, but also on a very healthy corporate culture within the bank. And that allows us to stand by our customers even in difficult times like the pandemic. UBS today is certainly stronger, safer, and clearly stands out from its European competitors.

I would say that the financial industry has shown, especially through the pandemic, that we played a very, very important role. On one hand, as a systemically important bank, we had to ensure that we could continue to provide all banking services for our customers from small businesses to large ones, and for private clients. And that was during times when employees were working from home, times of unprecedented high volatility in the markets, and still we had to maintain dialogue with customers, albeit at a digital distance. The second point that was very important for the economy, if I look at Switzerland, what we saw was actually an unprecedented collaboration between politics, authorities, and banks. When I think of the loan program, within the shortest time, Swiss companies were able to access liquidity assistance loans. That was truly unique worldwide. And if I think just of UBS, we received 24,000 loan applications from all over Switzerland in a very short time and were able to actually disburse 3.3 billion. I think this example shows that the financial industry, together with the Swiss economy, politics, and authorities, played a very, very important role.

I think the role will remain significant and may even grow. When we look at the pandemic, one aspect was supporting the economy. On the other hand, banks also have a societal duty, especially for us as one of the largest employers in Switzerland. We donated 30 million in aid funds early in the pandemic, which we transferred to the relevant organizations. But also, what we do in terms of employee volunteering and supporting projects has always been part of our corporate culture. And if I think a bit further, the big topic today is sustainability. I think on sustainability, banks have a large role to play, together with politics, authorities, and the economy, but also importantly not only in Switzerland but globally. And I think the financial industry is really called upon, and we will have a big role to play.

Banks are actually a motor in the innovation process in Switzerland. On one hand, for ourselves, digitalization is currently transforming the banking industry to an unprecedented extent, and the pandemic has certainly given an additional boost. That requires large investments, investments in collaboration with start-ups, fintechs, and research to further develop. So innovation in our own core business. On the other hand, we are also there to support startup founders, to accompany them on their journey of innovation and founding. So we have a dual role. And ultimately, as I said, as a large employer, we also provide employees for these processes and ensure that we have enough workforce to work in these innovative areas. So I would say, when I look at Switzerland as a rather small country with limited resources, and yet the importance we have, innovation is part of Swiss history, and banks are an important part of that history.