On Thursday, Credit Suisse announced that it would be borrowing as much as 50 billion Swiss francs ($53.7 billion) from the nation’s central bank, Swiss National Bank, to reassure investors that it will have enough liquidity to remain operational.
The announcement comes on the heels of a rough couple of days for the bank, after shares fell almost 25%, reaching all-time lows for two consecutive days. The price plunged after the bank’s biggest stakeholder, Saudi National Bank (SNB) announced it could not provide the bank with any further capital, due to investment laws within the Kingdom.
Credit Suisse also made it known that it had purchased back billions of dollars of its own debt, to better manage the interest-payment expenses, as well as the liabilities. The offer covers €500 million ($529 million) in euro bonds and $2.5 billion in US dollar bonds.
Ulrich Koerner, Credit Suisse CEO, said, “These measures demonstrate decisive action to strengthen Credit Suisse as we continue our strategic transformation to deliver value to our clients and other stakeholders.”
Koerner issued a thank you to Swiss National Bank, as well as the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) for their assistance in executing the strategic transformation of the investment bank.
Koerner said, “My team and I are resolved to move forward rapidly to deliver a simpler and more focused bank built around client needs.”
Credit Suisse has endured a string of scandals and losses which have greatly concerned investors and clients. Its most recent report revealed fourth quarter customer outflows were more than 110 billion Swiss francs ($120 billion), and conceded the bank had identified “material weaknesses” in its controls over its financial reporting, though it maintained its previous reporting had been sufficiently accurate to assess its performance.