Shares of a struggling Swiss bank have fallen amid a growing Western banking crisis
Credit Suisse said on Thursday it would borrow up to 50 billion Swiss francs ($53.7 billion) from the country’s central bank, the Swiss National Bank, to reassure investors that the beleaguered bank has enough money. money to stay afloat.
The announcement comes a day after shares of Switzerland’s second-largest bank fell nearly 25%, hitting historic lows for two consecutive days. The drop came after Credit Suisse’s biggest investor, the Saudi National Bank (SNB), said it would not be able to provide further financial assistance.
In addition to the Swiss National Bank loan, Credit Suisse also said it bought back billions of dollars of its own debt to manage liabilities and interest charges. The offering is for $2.5 billion in US dollar bonds and 500 million euros ($529 million) in euro bonds.
“These steps demonstrate decisive action to strengthen Credit Suisse as we continue our strategic transformation to deliver value to our clients and other stakeholders,” Ulrich Koerner, CEO of Credit Suisse said.
The executive thanked the Swiss central bank and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) for helping execute the strategic transformation of the investment bank.
“My team and I are committed to moving forward quickly to deliver a simpler, more focused bank built around customer needs,” Koerner said.
The Zurich-based bank has recently struggled to recover from a series of scandals and losses that have shaken investor and customer confidence. Customer outflows in the fourth quarter totaled more than 110 billion Swiss francs ($120 billion).
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