Scandals
ZURICH, 20 March (Reuters) – The following timeline shows the 167-year-old history of Credit Suisse Group (CSGN.S), a Zurich-based bank. It is being purchased at a bargain price by Swiss rival UBS.S (UBSG.S). This follows a series of scandals, losses, and management changes.
1856
Alfred Escher, a politician and business leader, founded Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (SKA), to finance the expansion and promotion of Swiss industrialization.
1870
New York’s first foreign representative office for SKA.
1876
The bank moves into a new headquarters at Zurich’s Paradeplatz. Nearly three decades later, its first branch outside Zurich opens at Basel.
1934
First Boston becomes the first publically held investment bank in the United States.
1939
SKA establishes Swiss American Corporation (New York), to focus on investment and underwriting.
1962
SKA acquires White, Weld and Co AG (Zurich) from U.S. investment bank White Weld and renames it Clariden Fin AG.
1964
SKA is granted a license as a New York full-service bank.
1977
The money-laundering scandal involving Chiasso Affair causes a historic loss that spurs the bank to become an international financial group.
1982
SKA becomes the first Swiss bank to have a seat on New York Stock Exchange via SASI. CS Holding, a sister company to SKA, is established to hold stakes at industrial companies.
1988
CS Holding purchases a 45% stake of First Boston as part a rescue deal and renames the company CS First Boston. The two companies had first teamed up a decade ago to operate in London’s bond market.
1989
CS Holding is now the parent company of SKA group.
1990
The group buys Bank Leu, a private Swiss bank, and acquires CS First Boston, an American investment bank.
1993
The group purchases Volksbank, Switzerland’s fourth largest bank, and then buys Neue Aargauer Banc.
1997
Reorganisations transform CS Holding into Credit Suisse Group, dropping the SKA name. It also buys insurer Winterthur as a strategic partner.
1999
The group purchases Warburg, Pincus & Co’s asset management business, followed by the purchase in a year of Wall Street firm Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.
2002
Two units are created by a reorganisation: Credit Suisse Financial Services Boston and Credit Suisse First Boston. Two years later, it is split into three units with the addition of Winterthur.
2005
Credit Suisse and CSFB merge, and Credit Suisse First Boston is no longer used.
2006
The group sells Winterthur to the French insurer AXA.
2007
Clariden Leu is a group that combines four private banks units and a securities trading firm.
2007/2008
The bank survived the global financial crisis without the need for a bailout from the state, unlike rival UBS.
2012
Clariden Leu is absorbed by the group and merged private banking and asset management to create one division.
2013
The group purchases Morgan Stanley’s wealth management business in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
2015
Under CEO Tidjane Thiam, the group is reorganized into three wealth management units that are supported by two investment banks divisions.
2020
Thiam was forced to leave after a scandal over bank surveillance operations.
March sees the collapse of U.S. investment firm Archegos, leaving Credit Suisse with a $5.5 Billion loss.
It must also freeze $10 billion in supply-chain finance funds linked to insolvent British financier Greensill Capital. This was a move that comes as a shock to clients who were marketed to them as low-risk products.
2021
Antonio Horta Osorio, who joined the bank in September 2009, resigns as chairman after violating COVID-19 quarantine regulations. Alex Lehmann replaces him.
JULY 2022
The bank appoints Ulrich Koerner, a restructuring expert, as its CEO to replace Thomas Gottstein. It also announces a new strategic review.
OCTOBER 2022
Announces a comprehensive plan to refocus banking for the wealthy. This includes a capital raising of 4 billion Swiss Francs ($4 billion), a reduction in headcount of 9,000 jobs by 2025, and the separation from its investment bank to create CS First Boston.
Saudi National Bank has announced that it will purchase shares, giving it a stake as high as 9.9%.
MARCH 2023
Credit Suisse’s 2022 Annual Report identifies “material flaws” in its internal controls over financial reporting.
The bank also stated that customer outflows had stabilized but not yet reversed.
After its largest shareholder, Saudi National Bank, the Swiss bank saw its shares drop by 30%. This was after it said that it couldn’t provide additional support due to regulatory constraints.
Credit Suisse receives $54 billion from the Swiss central bank as a lifeline to stabilize liquidity. This is the first major global bank to be granted emergency funding since 2008’s financial crisis.
The Swiss authorities assure Credit Suisse that it has met the capital and liquidity requirements for systemically important banks.
According to five sources with direct knowledge, at least four banks, including Societe Generale SA and Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE), have restricted new trades involving Credit Suisse securities.
UBS has agreed to buy Credit Suisse for 3 Billion Swiss Francs ($3.23 Billion) in stock. The deal was negotiated by Swiss authorities to avoid further market-shaking turmoil in global banks.
Reporting by Michael Shields
Editing by Alexander Smith, Frances Kerry, and Edmund Klamann
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