The actions of Credit Suisse fell this Wednesday, March 15, 24% on the Zurich Stock Exchange, a collapse that dragged down other European bank values, after having lost 30%It was a dark day for Switzerland’s second-biggest bank, marked by the refusal of the Saudi National Bank, its main shareholder, to give it more financial assistance.
The shares of the Zurich bank, one of the 20 largest in Europe and one of the top 50 in the world, ended the day around 1.7 Swiss francs (1.74 euros), after having reached a record low. of 1.5 francs during the session (1.54 euros), when they had never been below 2 francs per ballot.
The collapse, which occurs after several very negative days for the bank, affected by the stock market crisis caused by the collapse of the American Silicon Valley Bank (SVB)coincided with statements by the president of the Saudi state bank, Ammar al Khudairy, announcing that there will be no further capital injections by his entity.
“We cannot, because we would exceed 10% (of the shareholders), it is a regulatory issue,” he said in statements to the Bloomberg agency.
Swiss bank in trouble
The Saudi bank acquired that 10% of shares last year in the capital increase launched by Credit Suisse, an investment in which the Middle East entity invested 1,500 million Swiss francs (1,530 million euros).
In 2022, the Zurich bank suffered losses worth 7,293 million Swiss francs (about 7,400 million euros), 4.5 times more than in 2021.
Affected by its exposure to risk firms with financial problems such as Archegos or Greensill, Credit Suisse also suffered last year the withdrawal of liquidity worth 123,200 million Swiss francs (126,000 million euros).
Silicon Valley Bank closed and had the worst bankruptcy since the 2008 crisis
The black trading day for Credit Suisse would have caused the entity to have asked the Swiss National Bank (central) a public statement of support for the firm’s financial health after its shares fell as much as 30% in the morningas published by the British economic newspaper Financial Times.
Concern over the contagion of the situation of the Swiss bank has caused the European Central Bank (ECB)which tomorrow holds its monetary policy meeting, has contacted the central banks of the euro countries to communicate their level of financial exposure to Credit Suisse, reported the US newspaper The Wall Street Journal.
Source: Larepublica
Alia is a professional author and journalist, working at 247 news agency. She writes on various topics from economy news to general interest pieces, providing readers with relevant and informative content. With years of experience, she brings a unique perspective and in-depth analysis to her work.
