Credit Suisse has revealed for the first time the scale at which depositors rushed to withdraw their money from the Swiss bank before it was forced to merge with rival UBS last month.
In what is likely to be the final set of results as a stand-alone bank, Credit Suisse said it suffered outflows of SFr61bn ($68.6bn) in the first quarter as it reported a SFr1.3bn pre-tax loss for the period.
The 167-year-old bank said the outflows had stabilised but not reversed, underlining the challenge confronting the management team at rival UBS as it sets about trying to integrate its former rival.
The $3.25bn takeover was the most significant banking deal since the financial crisis 15 years ago. UBS chair Colm Kelleher and new chief executive Sergio Ermotti have shortlisted four management consultants to help with the complex operation of merging the two banks, which is expected to take years and lead to thousands of job cuts.
Meanwhile, Santander, which has ambitions to become a significant player in investment banking in the EU and the US, is in talks to hire several of Credit Suisse’s most senior bankers in New York, the Financial Times reports this morning.
Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:
Results: Regional lender First Republic and consumer goods group Coca-Cola Company report.
Five more top stories
1. EXCLUSIVE: The White House has asked South Korea to urge its chipmakers not to fill any market gap in China if Beijing bans Idaho-based Micron from selling chips. The US request was made ahead of a state visit by South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol to Washington.
2. The US home goods retailer Bed Bath & Beyond filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday. The store chain, founded in 1971, said it planned to shut all of its 400 stores by June if it cannot find a buyer.
3. Comcast yesterday said Jeff Shell, chief executive of NBCUniversal, was stepping down after an investigation into a complaint of alleged inappropriate conduct with a female colleague. Read more about the list of candidates to succeed Shell.
4. Australia has unveiled the biggest strategic shift in its military posture since the second world war to adapt to China’s military build-up in the region. The country’s defence spending review warned of “major power strategic competition” in the Indo-Pacific and that the country’s defence posture was “no longer fit for purpose”. Read more on the planned overhaul.
Related: Beijing’s ambassador in Paris has angered France’s European allies after he questioned the legal status of former Soviet states and Ukraine’s sovereignty over Crimea.
5. A broad international effort is under way to evacuate foreign nationals from Sudan. The White House said over the weekend that it was suspending operations at its embassy and had conducted an operation to remove US government personnel from the capital Khartoum.
The Big Read
The weeks since Silicon Valley Bank collapsed on March 10 have brought an uncomfortable realisation — the problems that provoked the biggest bank run in history were neither a freak occurrence nor an unforeseeable emergency. Ahead of the first official post-mortem on its failure, almost everyone agrees that the crisis had been hiding in plain sight.
We’re also reading . . .
Banking on Apple: Rana Foroohar asks if the tech giant — with its considerably greater global reach and consumer trust than most banks — can fix a troubled sector.
‘You shut up shop or you die’: Gustavo Petro took office in Colombia eight months ago promising “total peace” from a conflict that has killed more than 450,000 people and displaced over 7mn. But he has struggled to deliver.
War games: US and Philippine troops have been conducting their biggest military exercises in more than three decades. Here’s what we have learnt.
Chart of the day
Central bankers who manage trillions in foreign exchange reserves are loading up on gold. An annual poll of 83 central banks, which manage a combined $7tn in foreign exchange assets, found that more than two-thirds of respondents thought their peers would increase their gold holdings in 2023.
Related: Ruchir Sharma explores what this trend means for the dollar.
Take a break from the news
For 40 years, AlixPartners has been collecting data on the core psychological needs of potential recruits — from its receptionists to its chief executive. Read more on what the tests show.
Additional contributions by Tee Zhuo and Annie Jonas
Source: Economy - ft.com
