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Swiss Stocks Close Week Flat; US Fed Ends Actions Against UBS, Credit Suisse

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The Swiss Market Index was up 0.05% on Friday's close amid a quiet day of local economic news following the Ascension Day holiday.

Sandoz Group (SDZ.SW) secured marketing authorization from the European Commission for its insulin lispro biosimilar Bysumlog to treat diabetes mellitus in adults and children, while its insulin aspart biosimilar Dazparda was approved for the treatment of the same condition in adults, adolescents, and children aged one year and above. Both injectable biosimilars are comparable in efficacy and safety to their reference medicines. At closing, the Swiss pharmaceutical major's stock was 3.36% in the red.

Meanwhile, Berenberg left Zurich Insurance Group's (ZURN.SW) buy rating and price target of 656 francs unchanged following its first-quarter trading update, noting the insurer's "attractive" valuation and better-than-expected growth in gross premiums in its non-life insurance segment. Zurich's shares closed the session 0.46% higher.

"This strong commercial non-life gross premium growth is noteworthy, as we believe that it was achieved at attractive margins; for example, pricing in North America commercial improved modestly from -1% in 2025 to 0% in Q1 2026. Zurich in its results also indicated that the 7% growth in the midmarket may accelerate in H2 2026, as the new mid-market underwriters in the US gain traction," the research firm said in a note. "We believe that this strong gross premium growth will lead to strong operating profit growth. We believe that the strong rise in Zurich's solvency ratio from 259% at FY 2025 to 265% at Q1 2026, ahead of 261% consensus, reflects part of the benefit of higher earnings."

In other news, the US Federal Reserve Board terminated enforcement actions against UBS Group (UBSG.SW) and its Credit Suisse units, effective Tuesday. This relates to the consent order and $268.5 million fine issued by the Fed to the Swiss group in July 2023, due to Credit Suisse's "unsafe and unsound counterparty credit risk management practices" with Archegos Capital Management. UBS fell 0.69%.

Looking ahead, the upcoming week will see the first-quarter data for Switzerland's economic growth and industrial production.

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