Over $68 billion withdrawn from Credit Suisse ahead of UBS takeover

Gulf Today Report

More than $68 billion had been withdrawn from Credit Suisse in the first three months of 2023, the bank said on Monday in what are likely its final quarterly results before it is swallowed by rival UBS.

Switzerland's longtime second largest bank said 61.2 billion Swiss francs ($68.6 billion) was withdrawn in the first quarter, even as its net profit swelled to 12.8 billion francs after all of its high risk debtors were wiped out in the emergency takeover deal.

"These outflows have moderated but have not yet reversed as of April 24, 2023," Credit Suisse said.

It also said it had experienced significant withdrawals of cash deposits as well as non-renewal of maturing time deposits. Customer deposits declined by 67 billion Swiss francs in the first quarter.

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The bank reported results for what is likely to be the last time, as its shotgun marriage with rival Swiss bank UBS is expected to be completed soon.

Assets managed by Credit Suisse's flagship wealth management division dropped to 502.5 billion francs at the end of March, compared to 707 billion reported for the same period last year.

Clients rapidly started pulling money from Credit Suisse after it was ensnared in market turmoil unleashed by the collapse of U.S. lenders Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

This led Swiss authorities to scramble together a rescue package which saw UBS agree to take over Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs in stock and assume up to 5 billion francs in losses. It also included 200 billion francs in state financial guarantees.

Credit Suisse said that at the end of the first quarter, it had 108 billion Swiss francs of net borrowings under these facilities after paying back 60 billion. It also said it had since paid back another 10 billion.

The bank also said it had mutually agreed to terminate the planned $175 million acquisition of Michael Klein's investment banking business, which it had intended to spin off together with its own investment banking arm.

UBS has said it plans to scale back Credit Suisse's investment bank.