📋 Tender Overview
After hearing the main stakeholders concerned, the Commission on the Economy and Royalties of the National Council (CER-N) considers that there is reason to address the Federal Councils project concerning the coverage, by means of equity, of foreign participations of systemically important banks (26.027).The committee has not yet made any further decisions regarding this matter.
ContentAs a preamble to the actual examination of the project, the CER-N heard, in the presence of Federal Councilor Karin Keller-Sutter, representatives of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), FINMA, UBS and the Swiss Bankers Association (Swiss Banking).In particular, she interviewed the President of the SNB, Martin Schlegel, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of FINMA, Marlene Amstad, the Managing Director of UBS Group AG, Sergio Ermotti, the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of UBS Group AG, Markus Ronner, and the Managing Director of Swiss Banking, Roman Studer.During this hearing, the differences of opinion regarding the usefulness and consequences of stricter capital requirements for UBS, already known to the general public, were confirmed. For the CER-N, the need to act and strengthen the coverage, by means of capital, of the participations that systemically important banks hold abroad is undeniable.Without a contrary proposal, it entered into the Federal Councils project.However, the first discussions within the committee revealed different assessments: while some fear that too strict regulation would harm UBSs competitiveness and lead to an increase in costs for its clients, others see in the Federal Councils project a compromise proposal which should not be revised downwards.The committee plans to discuss the project by article at its meeting on November 23 and 24.Until then, the administration will provide it, in writing, with detailed explanations on the mandates entrusted to it by the commission.This subject should be examined by the National Council at the winter session.Public procurement: strengthening the digital sovereignty of the ConfederationThe committee devoted two sessions to the digital sovereignty of Switzerland and held a hearing on this subject (see press release of August 18, 2026).It certainly notes that increasing importance has been given to this issue in the context of public procurement by the Confederation in recent years, but considers that the efforts made to date by the Federal Council and the administration are not sufficient.It therefore decided, by 16 votes to 5, with 3 abstentions, to table a motion (26.4709) which tasks the Federal Council with defining specific operational and binding principles for federal public procurement in order to strengthen the digital sovereignty of the Confederation.The determining criteria should also include high technical performance, a high level of security and professional support for the chosen software and hardware solutions.The budgetary framework will also have to be taken into account. The commission met on October 26 and 27, 2026 in Bern under the chairmanship of national councilor Samuel Bendahan (SP, VD).
