The Credit Suisse crisis was surprising for breaking out days after the SVB one, but it has been brewing for years. Founded in 1856, the Swiss bank has been an opaque refuge for great European fortunes for many decades, until it began to chain erratic decisions and generate the mistrust of its own shareholders.
The managers are criticized for the inaccuracy of the divestments and the lack of transparency around litigation and provisions. Added to this are several reputational setbacks that began when the previous president, Antonio Horta-Osório, had to resign for attending a sporting event instead of complying with the quarantine that the pandemic forced him to do.
Since then, it has been left without direction. His successor, Axel Lehmann, was investigated for transmitting confusing information to the market, to which are added several management reshuffles and a high exposure to firms in difficulties.
At the end of last year, it launched a restructuring plan that included 9,000 layoffs and a capital increase of more than 4,000 million euros, which was attended by the Saudi bank SNB to become the main shareholder. It is the same entity that has now turned its back on you.
In these months, far from redirecting the business, the bank has done nothing but generate mistrust. Last year it suffered a withdrawal of liquidity worth 123.2 billion Swiss francs (125 billion euros), especially in the fourth quarter, and has not been able to recover from the blow. While other entities enjoyed the return of profits thanks to the rises in interest rates, the Swiss bank was engaged in technical discussions with supervisors.
After delaying the publication of its results in the United States for several days, it acknowledged days ago the existence of “significant weaknesses” in the internal control procedures that affect the financial valuation of the years 2021 and 2022. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission Unidos (SEC) came to warn the entity for technical issues of which the bank has not spoken transparently.
This week, Credit Suisse finally published its 2022 results, consisting of losses of 7,293 million Swiss francs (7,400 million euros). They are added to those of the previous year and are accompanied by the announcement that there will be more in 2023.
These messages, together with the indications that a new capital increase will be necessary, are enough to end the patience of shareholders, as it seems to have happened. The case is different from that of SVB in the United States, but coincides in becoming unsustainable when shareholder support disappears.
Credit Suisse has announced that on April 4 it will submit its board of directors to a vote of confidence by the shareholders.
