The statements by Credit Suisse’s main shareholder triggered a wave of panic on the stock market. The Swiss group, which has accumulated difficulties for several years, is one of the largest European banks.
• What is Credit Suisse?
Based in Zurich, Credit Suisse is number two in the Swiss banking sector behind rival UBS. The bank, one of the largest on a European scale, currently employs 45,000 people worldwide and had 1,294,000 million Swiss francs (1,331.400 million euros) in assets under management at the end of 2022. Above all, Credit Suisse belongs to the club of systemic banks, that is to say, it is a bank whose failure would have serious consequences for the financial system due to its size and its activities.
• What are your activities?
Active in some fifty countries around the world, Crédit Suisse combines investment banking, private banking (more specifically, a bank reserved for the very rich) and asset management, that is, the management of the investments of people with high net worth. The group also offers retail banking (a traditional bank open to individuals) in Switzerland. But, faced with its difficulties, the bank intends to abandon investment banking and concentrate on its Swiss branch.
• Who are your shareholders?
The Saudi National Bank (SNB) is its main shareholder (9.88%) – it was the statements of its president that triggered the panic on the stock market. First Saudi bank, is majority owned by the Saudi state. They are followed, behind, by Qatar Holding LLC (5.03%), whose sole shareholder is the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar, then the Saudi group Olayan Group (4.93%). We also find the American asset management giant Blackrock (4.07%).
US investment company Harris Associates, one of its longtime shareholders and even the largest shareholder until last October, recently threw in the towel and sold its entire stake in the banking group.
• Who are your competitors?
Its great rival is the Swiss bank UBS. In 2008, during the financial crisis, Crédit Suisse was considered the good student of finance, unlike UBS, which was forced to ask the state for help: the roles have now been reversed between the two Swiss banks. Outside of Switzerland, its main competitors are above all the big American banks such as Goldman Sachs or Bank of America. In the only private bank, there is also the French group BNP Paribas.
Source: BFM TV
