On March 19, 2023, Credit Suisse announced that Credit Suisse Group AG and UBS Group AG have entered into a merger agreement following the intervention of the Swiss Federal Department of Finance, the Swiss National Bank and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA. UBS Group AG will be the surviving entity upon closing of the merger transaction, which is subject to customary conditions.  The combined market capitalization is approximately USD 65 billion. In a unique step, the Swiss Federal Council has issued an emergency ordinance (Notverordnung), based on which the merger does not require approval of the shareholders’ meetings of the two companies and certain other requirements under the Swiss Merger Act do not apply.