The Swiss declare the U.S. banking disaster finally toppled Credit score Suisse. However are they proper?

Following Credit score Suisse‘s “emergency rescue” by rival UBS, Swiss authorities positioned a heavy emphasis on the position of U.S. regional banking collapses in pushing the stricken Swiss lender to the brink.

Credit score Suisse’s most up-to-date share worth plunge started with the collapse of U.S.-based Silicon Valley Financial institution, however was compounded when the 167-year-old Swiss establishment introduced that it had discovered “materials weaknesses” in its monetary reporting procedures.

Affirmation from high investor the Saudi Nationwide Financial institution that it couldn’t present any extra funding to Credit score Suisse then offered the ultimate blow, prompting the announcement of a mortgage of as much as 50 billion Swiss francs ($54.2 billion) from the Swiss Nationwide Financial institution. By that time, Credit score Suisse shares have been down by round 98% from their all-time excessive in April 2007.

The mortgage intervention finally failed to revive investor confidence and Swiss authorities brokered the financial institution’s emergency sale to UBS for three billion Swiss francs over the weekend.

“The most recent developments that emanated from the banks within the U.S. hit us on the most unfavorable second. One time, like final yr, we have been capable of overcome the deep market uncertainty, however not this second time,” Credit score Suisse Chairman Axel Lehmann informed a press convention on Sunday evening.

“The accelerating lack of confidence and the escalation over the previous few days have made it clear that Credit score Suisse can now not exist in its present kind. We’re completely satisfied to have discovered an answer, which I am satisfied will convey lasting stability and safety for shoppers, employees, monetary markets and to Switzerland.”

SNB Chairman Thomas Jordan additionally lamented the “U.S. banking disaster” for accelerating a “lack of confidence in Switzerland” which had repercussions for Credit score Suisse’s liquidity.

Nevertheless, the downward spiral of Credit score Suisse’s share worth and mounting asset outflows have been underway lengthy earlier than the collapse of Silicon Valley Financial institution earlier this month. Swiss regulator FINMA has come underneath fireplace for permitting the state of affairs to deteriorate because the financial institution spent years mired in losses and scandal.

Mark Yallop, chairman of the U.Okay.’s Monetary Markets Requirements Board and former U.Okay. CEO at UBS, informed CNBC on Tuesday that he agreed with the broad evaluation that Credit score Suisse’s downfall was “idiosyncratic.”

“It is unlucky that the issues with a few of the smaller U.S. banks within the final two or three weeks occurred concurrently this concern with Credit score Suisse however the two are utterly completely different and really largely unrelated,” he mentioned.

“The problems at Credit score Suisse are to do with an extended historical past of revolving doorways on the high of the agency in administration phrases, a altering plan, and on high of a collection of operational danger and management and compliance issues.”

The ultimate straw that despatched the share worth to an all-time low forward of a 50 billion mortgage from the SNB final Thursday, which finally failed to revive market confidence within the financial institution, was the announcement from high investor the Saudi Nationwide Financial institution that it couldn’t present any extra funding to Credit score Suisse.

“One by no means is aware of with a financial institution collapse when the second of disaster will come, however at that time, that was the second when buyers lastly threw within the towel and mentioned sufficient is sufficient, and the actions that we noticed over the weekend turned just about inevitable,” Yallop added.

What’s extra, swift motion from Federal Reserve and the Treasury Division has largely been credited with efficiently stemming any potential contagion to the U.S. monetary system, which begs the query of how a lot of the blame for Credit score Suisse’s demise can actually be apportioned to the SVB collapse.

In contrast, the Swiss banking and regulatory system has come underneath fireplace.

Steven Glass, managing director and analyst at Pella Funds Administration, informed CNBC final week that the plunge in Credit score Suisse’s share worth had been a very long time coming, and that the lack of confidence of shoppers was really crystalized by the financial institution’s publicity to the Greensill Capital collapse in 2021.

“The issue with Greensill, it was really an enormous concern, as a result of that fund was marketed to a complete lot of [Credit Suisse’s] high-net-worth particular person shoppers as a really secure fund, as a approach to get yield in a low-yield world, and when that blew up, a complete lot of their franchise misplaced cash they usually principally misplaced belief in Credit score Suisse,” Glass informed CNBC’s “Capital Connection.”

Within the aftermath of 9/11, new laws pressured Swiss banks to desert the consumer secrecy that for hundreds of years shaped their modus operandi, and banks like Credit score Suisse took on higher danger in a bid to retain their profitability and forestall high-net-worth shoppers from taking their cash elsewhere, Glass argued.

He advised that on this context, Credit score Suisse dropping the belief of its remaining high-net-worth people via Greensill, and a litany of different points down the years, meant the financial institution “shot itself within the foot.”

“Sure, this has come concurrently SVB and sure as Signature Financial institution and we will see why one would possibly say it is a broader banking disaster, however in precise truth, what we consider is that a variety of these banks really had an issue with their enterprise mannequin, greater than there being an overt banking disaster,” Glass concluded.

This was echoed by Octavio Marenzi, CEO of Opimas, who informed CNBC’s Capital Connection on Tuesday that the Credit score Suisse debacle meant Switzerland’s “rigorously crafted, honed popularity” for monetary stability “lies in tatters.”