Finance & economics | Panic on Paradeplatz

Credit Suisse faces share-price turbulence, as fear sweeps the market

What will release the bank from its waking nightmare?

TOPSHOT - A man is seen in silhouette walking past a branch of Switzerland's Credit Suisse bank in Vevey, western Switzerland, on March 15, 2023 - Credit Suisse shares were in freefall on March 15, 2023 on the Swiss stock exchange, plunging 20 percent in morning trading to historic new record lows. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP) (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)
Image: Getty Images

Shaky share-issuances can sink banks. The disastrous attempt by Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) to raise capital proved as much. On March 15th Credit Suisse found that shaky shareholders can do lots of damage, too. Saudi National Bank, the firm’s biggest shareholder, appears to be suffering a bad case of buyer’s remorse. Quizzed about any further investment in Credit Suisse, the response from the Saudi bank’s chairman was brutal: “Absolutely not, for many reasons outside the simplest reason, which is regulatory and statutory.”

This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Paradeplatz panic”

From the March 18th 2023 edition

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