UBS ditches plan to phase out coal financing

Green targets: A shareholder arrives for a meeting at UBS bank in Basel, Switzerland. The bank’s executives now intend to stick with their own policy on coal funding. — AFP

LONDON: UBS Group AG is set to scrap a planned phaseout of coal financing that Credit Suisse had backed, as the global wealth manager prepares to unveil how the merged bank will tackle climate change.

After months of internal debate on how to treat Credit Suisse’s climate strategy, UBS executives now intend to stick with their own policy on coal funding, meaning the bank will have no end date for financing the dirtiest fossil fuel, people familiar with the matter said.