2023-04-18 11:00:38
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has a great deal to do with the financial crisis that Credit Suisse is going through. But before understanding the level of intimacy between the two, let’s first point out what happened to the famous Swiss investment bank.
Credit Suisse had a 24% devaluation and had trading suspended for several moments. There were days when the paper it even dropped 30% and with the shares falling, the fear of generating a systemic risk increased.
And following the second half of March, everything went downhill. The news that one of Credit Suisse’s main shareholders, the Saudi National Bank, would not invest more resources in the financial institution shook the entire system.
According to the president, Ammar Al Khudairy, if the Saudi bank increased its participation there would be regulatory problems. Also, the day before the problem broke out, the Swiss bank said in a statement that it had “material weaknesses” in internal controls.
The consequence of this is no longer being able to carry out consolidated financial reports with confidence. It’s not even something of today, the truth is that the problem has been going on since 2019 and may have already affected previous reports.
Credit Suisse History
In October 2021, the financial institution began a restructuring with the expectation that it would achieve a capital increase of US$ 4 billion. The opportunity caught the attention of investors in the Middle East.
Already in 2022, the Swiss bank closed its balance sheet with its worst result in 14 years, showing a net loss of 7.3 billion francs.
The column by Assis Moreira, in Valor Econômico, reported that two funds were responsible for the loss in 2022.
- The first would be the loss of 5 billion francs with the end of the American speculative fund Archegos;
- The second would be the liquidation of the Greensill funds, which is a British company with a loss of around US$ 10 billion.
Finally, the Swiss group UBS Group AG acquired Credit Suisse in March. The value of the acquisition was 3.25 billion dollars and the transaction was confirmed by the Swiss National Bank (SNB).
Financial market specialists believe that the Credit Suisse is too big to fail. Others think no, that it might be too big to save.
Saudi Arabia’s role in Credit Suisse
Now, you must be wondering what the connection between Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and Credit Suisse really is. Well, it starts with the fact that Saudi National Bank no longer invest its money in the Swiss financial institution.
The Saudi Arabian bank is the largest shareholder and one of the owners is the same person responsible for the country’s sovereign wealth fund, Prince Mohammed. So much so that last year, the Credit Suisse shares rose as much as 7.5% just with the possibility that the Saudi prince would take a stake in the Swiss bank.
This ended up happening later on. What shows how Sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East are managing to increase their operations around the world. For the Crown Prince’s decision was able to almost break the Swiss bank.
You must be wondering how a sovereign wealth fund is capable of moving billions of dollars. The region acquired stakes in companies and football teams, in addition to gains from oil and natural gas prices.
That is, the so-called “petrodollars” became important for Credit Suisse and other businesses around the world. The World Cup in Qatar is a good illustration of this technology and power movement.
Don’t waste time and improve your knowledge, subscribe to our YouTube channel to explore the best investment opportunities on the market.
1681892543
#Fund #Saudi #Arabia #Credit #Suisse #understand