investment bank head’s grand plan to revive the First Boston brand and build it into a Wall Street advisory powerhouse now looks in ashes. In recent days, the pressure intensified until the Swiss government was forced to step in. But the firm was unable to recover from a crisis of confidence that caused billions of dollars to exit in October. Bolder still was a plan to break out the bank’s best-performing investment banking businesses. Ulrich Koerner, who only took the top job last summer, had already mapped out a plan to cut back risk after a torrent of scandals and losses to focus more on wealth management. Shareholders won’t even get to vote on this deal after Switzerland changed its rules to rush the merger through.Ĭredit Suisse’s chief executive officer is expected to depart, having inherited a broken lender that he was unable to revive. In addition to being the bank’s second-biggest holder, it had owned in the past the firm’s AT1 bonds that were written to zero in the deal, though it’s unclear if QIA still held that debt. The Qatar Investment Authority’s pain came over a much longer period, as it first invested in the last financial crisis, but it likely lost an even greater amount. Saudi National Bank’s chairman helped fuel the panic this week when he ruled out raising its stake in Credit Suisse.Īlso Read: Credit Suisse’s 9,000 job cuts are foretaste of UBS takeover The firm thought it was buying at a bargain when it became the Swiss bank’s largest shareholder just a few months ago. Saudi National Bank’s investment was stunning in its brevity: the lender lost 1.1 billion francs less than 15 weeks from when it finished buying its stake in Credit Suisse’s latest capital raise.
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