It is probably one of the most surprising interviews with a top exec from the financial industry in a long time. The ex-CEO of UBS and Credit Suisse, Oswald Gruebel, spoke openly about supporting bitcoin.
Oswald Gruebel talked to Cash.ch and voiced his criticism on the inability of banks to avoid economic crises. Furthermore, his vision on the long term for gold and bitcoin is very positive, he said. They are great opportunities.
The only investment that holds its value over a longer period of time is gold, in his opinion, and in the future we can possibly add bitcoin to that list.
Bitcoin Is Not A Good Investment
Only 2 months ago, Citibank published a report as a reaction to the ‘save our Swiss gold’ initiative, in which the bank described bitcoin as an investment without intrinsic value. The reaction of the former top exec shows that opinions are divided within the banking world.
Take the total value of the SNB (Swiss National Bank). In just a short amount of time, the total value went from 50 billion francs to 550 billion. It is quite surprising how many people accept that, in Gruebel’s opinion. He also added that the expects that the weakness of banks will have a damaging effect on the global economy.
Banks should not be able to be in a position where they can take advantage of their own position as market makers, says Gruebel. That means that they can no longer buy when interest rates are going down and no longer sell when interest rates are going up, it is just too expensive in terms of capital.
The former top exec also has an opinion about regulators: when he left for Credit Suisse in 2007, regulators told him that his risk management at Credit Suisse was worse than at UBS. Only a year later they came back from that. It shows how absurd this world sometimes is.
