UK, Switzerland eye US bank rules after Trump win, Swiss minister says

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ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter said she had on Thursday discussed the outlook for banking regulation in the United States with her British counterpart Rachel Reeves following Donald Trump’s presidential election win this week.

Speaking after a meeting with Reeves in London, Keller-Sutter said the two officials had talked about efforts to pass a Swiss-UK financial services deal struck late last year, before she turned to Trump’s victory in Tuesday’s U.S. election.

“We also discussed what the election of the new American President, Donald Trump, could mean in regard to banking regulation,” Keller-Sutter told Reuters in a phone interview.

“We also agreed we would follow this together. It was said beforehand that a wave of deregulation was coming in the USA.”

On regulation, both agreed it was important to strike a balance between competitiveness and stability, she said.

The election victory of Trump, a Republican, boosted stocks in banks and other companies on Wednesday as investors bet on lower corporate taxes and deregulation when he returns to office.

Keller-Sutter, who next year will also assume Switzerland’s rotating presidency, is overseeing efforts to tighten banking regulations in the country following the 2023 collapse and subsequent takeover of Credit Suisse by its long-time rival UBS.

That political process is still underway.

Asked whether Trump’s victory meant Europe needed to be more lenient on the banking sector to enable it to remain competitive, the minister declined to be drawn, noting it was too early to say and that she was observing developments.

(Reporting by Dave Graham and Oliver Hirt; Editing by Mark Potter)