2023-07-09 12:37:09
Saudi National Bank wanted to increase its stake in Credit Suisse from 9.88% to around 40%, but was blocked by Swiss regulator FINMA, the Blick newspaper reported on Sunday.
As Switzerland’s second-largest bank was on the verge of collapse, UBS agreed to buy Credit Suisse for a ridiculously low three billion Swiss francs ($3.4 billion) on March 19 as part of a bailout orchestrated by the Swiss authorities.
FINMA must give its consent for a foreign investor to take a stake of more than 10% in a major Swiss bank.
FINMA’s reasons for opposing the deal, which would have allowed Saudi National Bank, which was already Credit Suisse’s largest shareholder, to inject $5 billion into the bank, were unclear, reported the Swiss newspaper Blick, without identifying its sources.
Credit Suisse declined to comment. FINMA and Saudi National Bank were not immediately available for comment.
UBS completed the emergency takeover of Credit Suisse last month, creating a Swiss banking and wealth management giant with a balance sheet of $1.6 trillion and overseeing more than $5 trillion in assets. .
The deal converted Saudi National Bank’s stake in Credit Suisse to just 0.5% in UBS. ($1 = 0.8882 Swiss francs) (Reporting by François Murphy; Additional reporting by Rachna Uppal in Dubai; Writing by Alexander Smith)
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