US banks aren’t the only ones in trouble. Shares in Credit Suisse tumbled more than 20% after Saudi backers said they would not increase their investment in the Swiss bank.
“The answer is absolutely no, for many reasons. I will give the simplest reason – regulatory and legal. Now we own 9.8% of the bank — if we go above 10%, all kinds of new regulations come into play, whether it’s our regulator, or the European regulator, or the Swiss regulator,” said Omar Al Hudairi, chairman of the Saudi National Bank. Bloomberg said.
His comments, which were repeated by Reuters, come at a difficult time for Credit Suisse and the banking industry as a whole.
The Biden administration is taking extraordinary measures to heal depositors and strengthen the US banking sector after the collapse of the Silicon Valley bank. Last week, the country’s 16th largest bank, which focused on the affected technology sector, experienced an outflow of deposits.
The collapse of SVB, as well as cryptocurrency-focused Signature Bank, triggered emergency rescue measures by regulators and rocked financial markets.
Credit Suisse is outside the purview of the Biden administration, and its falling fortunes have had a ripple effect on other European banks. Shares of French and German banks such as BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank fell 8-10%, according to CNN Business.
Saudis slam on brakes as Credit Suisse overhauls. Large withdrawals and questions about its financial statements prompted a major restructuring that included layoffs and changes at the executive level.
Credit Suisse Chairman Axel Lehmann declined to say Wednesday whether he thinks the bank will need government intervention.
“We are regulated, we have high capital ratios, a very strong balance sheet,” Mr. Lehman told CNBC in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. “We are all in hands. So this is not the topic.”
