The Anglo-Saxon media has been running a real campaign against Credit Suisse in the past few weeks: Not a day has passed when they haven’t spread rumors about the bank – sometimes even rumors about a possible “Lehman moment” for the bank, namely bankruptcy. They sent the stock down several times.
Now that the cat is out of the bag and CS has released its reconstruction plans to the public after months of silence, most of the doomsday warnings have been in vain. Still, Credit Suisse continues to make big headlines on the international scene.
“The bank reinvents itself”
The US “Wall Street Journal” writes that CS has “pulled out of Wall Street”. This is because the bank has announced that it will outsource some of its investment banking, as expected. This move marks the return of CS First Boston as an independent entity. Also, securitization of debt securities, a profitable but risky business, will be largely sold.
The US magazine says that with the announced capital increase, especially 1.5 billion francs from the Saudi National Bank, CS is trying to overcome its “almost existential crisis”. “The bank is reinventing itself,” he sums up.
Scandal history heats up
The British “Financial Times” writes that CS wants to “leave a series of scandals” with its restructuring plans.
In fact, CS has made a name for itself in recent years for its repeated losses as well as other negative headlines: Former President António Horta-Osório (58) was forced to resign due to the violation of the Covid quarantine. The bank was convicted by the Federal Criminal Court of failing to prevent money laundering and collected a fine of twelve billion francs within ten years, to name just a few of the many mishaps.
Financial news portal Bloomberg is talking about a “general overhaul” in CS. The “New York Times” sounds a little more sympathetic to the bank, writing “an extensive redesign to revive the company.”
No more reliable Swiss banks
Meanwhile, the international news agency Reuters mocks: “Credit Suisse wants billions from investors”. According to Reuters, the bank was “shaken by years of scandals” and “entered the worst crisis in its history”.
The bank was once “a symbol of Switzerland’s credibility” – but after the scandal over the past few years that is no longer the case. The portal also cites an analyst who said “questions remain” despite the renewal plans.
With the restructuring, CS is following in the footsteps of UBS, albeit from a more difficult starting position: UBS completed the restructuring after the financial crisis and received a lot of money from the Swiss National Bank (SNB) for it. Meanwhile, CS had to reinvent itself in a world “shaped by war, energy crisis, high inflation and economic downturn”.