Finance

Warren Buffett says Berkshire Hathaway is looking at an investment in Canada

Published

1 year ago

May 4, 2024

Business Finance News

Warren Buffett: Don't feel uncomfortable in any way putting our money into Canada

OMAHA, Neb. — Warren Buffett said that Berkshire Hathaway is looking into an investment in Canada.

“We do not feel uncomfortable in any shape or form putting our money into Canada,” he told an arena full of investors Saturday. “In fact, we’re actually looking at one thing now.”

The billionaire investor has placed bets in the country in the past. He’s previously taken a roughly $300 million position in Home Capital Group that investors took as a vote of confidence in the troubled Canadian mortgage underwriter.

The “Oracle of Omaha” said during the annual shareholder meeting that he does not expect to make significant bets outside the U.S., saying his recent investments in Japanese trading houses were a compelling exception. But Buffett noted the similarity in operations between the Canada and the U.S.

“There’s a lot of countries we don’t understand at all,” Buffett said. “So, Canada, it’s terrific when you’ve got a major economy, not the size of the U.S., but a major economy that you feel confident about operating there.”

Warren Buffett walks the floor and meets with Berkshire Hathaway shareholders ahead of their annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 3rd, 2024.

David A. Grogen | CNBC

Buffett did not reveal the specific company he’s looking at north of the border or whether it was public or private.

“Obviously, there aren’t as many big companies up there as there are in the United States,” Buffett said. “There are things we actually can do fairly well that Canada could benefit from Berkshire’s participation.”

Canada’s S&P/TSX Composite Index is up about 5% this year. The economy has large financial and commodity industries.

The Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting is exclusively broadcast on CNBC and livestreamed on CNBC.com.

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Published

20 hours ago

June 6, 2025

Business Finance News

Finance

Swiss government proposes tough new capital rules in major blow to UBS

Published

22 hours ago

June 6, 2025

Business Finance News

A sign in German that reads “part of the UBS group” in Basel on May 5, 2025.

Fabrice Coffrini | AFP | Getty Images

The Swiss government on Friday proposed strict new capital rules that would require banking giant UBS to hold an additional $26 billion in core capital, following its 2023 takeover of stricken rival Credit Suisse.

The measures would also mean that UBS will need to fully capitalize its foreign units and carry out fewer share buybacks.

“The rise in the going-concern requirement needs to be met with up to USD 26 billion of CET1 capital, to allow the AT1 bond holdings to be reduced by around USD 8 billion,” the government said in a Friday statement, referring to UBS’ holding of Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds.

The Swiss National Bank said it supported the measures from the government as they will “significantly strengthen” UBS’ resilience.

“As well as reducing the likelihood of a large systemically important bank such as UBS getting into financial distress, this measure also increases a bank’s room for manoeuvre to stabilise itself in a crisis through its own efforts. This makes it less likely that UBS has to be bailed out by the government in the event of a crisis,” SNB said in a Friday statement.

‘Too big to fail’

UBS has been battling the specter of tighter capital rules since acquiring the country’s second-largest bank at a cut-price following years of strategic errors, mismanagement and scandals at Credit Suisse.

The shock demise of the banking giant also brought Swiss financial regulator FINMA under fire for its perceived scarce supervision of the bank and the ultimate timing of its intervention.

Swiss regulators argue that UBS must have stronger capital requirements to safeguard the national economy and financial system, given the bank’s balance topped $1.7 trillion in 2023, roughly double the projected Swiss economic output of last year. UBS insists it is not “too big to fail” and that the additional capital requirements — set to drain its cash liquidity — will impact the bank’s competitiveness.

At the heart of the standoff are pressing concerns over UBS’ ability to buffer any prospective losses at its foreign units, where it has, until now, had the duty to back 60% of capital with capital at the parent bank.

Higher capital requirements can whittle down a bank’s balance sheet and credit supply by bolstering a lender’s funding costs and choking off their willingness to lend — as well as waning their appetite for risk. For shareholders, of note will be the potential impact on discretionary funds available for distribution, including dividends, share buybacks and bonus payments.

“While winding down Credit Suisse’s legacy businesses should free up capital and reduce costs for UBS, much of these gains could be absorbed by stricter regulatory demands,” Johann Scholtz, senior equity analyst at Morningstar, said in a note preceding the FINMA announcement.

“Such measures may place UBS’s capital requirements well above those faced by rivals in the United States, putting pressure on returns and reducing prospects for narrowing its long-term valuation gap. Even its long-standing premium rating relative to the European banking sector has recently evaporated.”