© Reuters. Federal counselor and head of the federal finance department Karin Keller-Sutter attends a news conference on Credit Suisse after the UBS takeover bid, in Bern, Switzerland March 19, 2023. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
ZURICH (Reuters) – Credit Suisse asked the Swiss National Bank for “a huge multi-billion dollar amount” last weekend to ensure its liquidity, the country’s Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter told Swiss broadcaster on Saturday SRF.
The troubled Swiss bank had said last week that it intended to borrow up to 50 billion Swiss francs from the country’s central bank to increase its liquidity.
“Last weekend Credit Suisse withdrew a large number of billions to protect liquidity,” Keller-Sutter said.
He said this was because customers were withdrawing money again, but also because counterparties required collateral when doing business with the bank.
Keller-Sutter said the figure was “presumably” above 50 billion Swiss francs ($54.35 billion), but said the Swiss National Bank had the exact figure.
“The important thing is that the situation has stabilized,” he said.
Last Sunday, UBS agreed to buy rival Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs in shares and agreed to take up to 5 billion francs in losses in a merger engineered by Swiss authorities to prevent further turbulence in the global banking market.
($1 = 0.9199 Swiss francs)
