- Credit Suisse shares have fallen below the two franc mark for the first time.
- In the meantime, a new low of CHF 1.75 was recorded on Wednesday morning.
- Previously, a major CS shareholder, the Saudi National Bank, had announced that it would not be able to invest any more money in the bank.
The CS titles were recently more than 20 percent down compared to Tuesday.
Bad news from Riyadh
The President of the Saudi SNB, Ammar Al Khudairy, had previously apparently poured fuel on the fire with his statements to Bloomberg TV. He clearly ruled out that the Saudi bank would inject any further money into CS – among other things for regulatory reasons that would arise if the stake were increased to 10 percent.
The SNB joined the CS capital increase last autumn as a new major shareholder and holds 9.9 percent of CS shares. The Saudis had always stated that they did not want to exceed this value.
However, more positive statements by the major shareholder were hidden at a financial conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. For example, Al Khudairy was also satisfied with Credit Suisse’s restructuring plans.
In addition, in an interview with the Reuters news agency, he was convinced that CS would not need any more money – the capital ratios would continue to look good.
Distance to UBS is increasing
The new low for the CS shares falls in an environment of highly unsettled markets, in which numerous bank stocks, such as UBS shares, have fallen sharply. However, a stock exchange trader also spoke of a “sales panic”, especially with CS titles, which would have unsettled market participants beyond the banking sector.
Credit Suisse stocks were down 21 percent at just CHF 1.75 in the late morning. Compared to the 2022 closing price of 2.76, the CS share has now fallen by more than a third. The multi-year comparison is even more drastic: At the beginning of March 2021, i.e. shortly before the two debacles surrounding the closure of the “Greensill Fund” and the collapse of the Archegos hedge fund, which cost billions, CS shares were still listed at CHF 12.66.
The rating of Credit Suisse also falls further. The market capitalization of the second largest Swiss bank is still around 8 billion Swiss francs. For comparison: UBS is worth a good 61 billion on the stock exchange, the asset management bank Julius Baer is valued at almost 12 billion.