	swiss banker wants bond ratings share disclosure a top swiss banker called for an obligatory continuous rating for all swiss franc bonds and said he believed anyone buying more than five pct of a company should be made to declare their share in comments at a news conference of vontobel holding ag chairman hans vontobel said he believed it was up to the banks own self regulating bodies such as the swiss admissions board to take such action before governmental bodies stepped in a decline in the average quality of borrowers on the swiss franc market and a debate on the use of registered shares to prevent takeovers have made both major issues among bankers vontobel noted that many borrowers already came to the market with ratings from the major u s agencies which were readily available to professionals through specialised information systems we should make this classification obligatory and publish it in places that are easily accessible to lay people he said the quick changing nature of the financial market meant these ratings should also be continually updated he said vontobel also noted that recent years had seen companies worried about takeovers increasingly issuing registered shares and participation certificates rather than bearer shares however both types of issue had a drawback he said the recent attempt by jacobs suchard ag jacz z to take over hero conserven lenzburg herz z had shown the limits of a pledge by the banks not to sell registered shares to someone who was not eligible according to the company s statutes excessive issue of participation certificates which do not carry voting rights would also be contrary to the principle of greater democracy in the new share law before parliament people buying for example more than five pct of a company s shares should be made to declare their purchase he said reuter 
