The Swiss government will financially support the ailing bank Credit Suisse if necessary. In doing so, they are responding to the request for public support that the bank made earlier today. According to a statement on the website of the Central Bank (SNB) in Switzerland, Credit Suisse meets “the capital and liquidity requirements imposed on banks. If necessary, the SNB will provide the bank with liquidity.” The statement is also supported by Finma. Bloomberg previously reported that there could also be a merger with another major Swiss bank, UBS. Former CEO Ralph Hamers of ING is currently working at the latter. Nothing has been brought out about that. Credit Suisse has been in trouble for a long time. Among other things, the bank is struggling with investments that resulted in losses. Today, the main lender, the Saudi National Bank, said it could no longer help financially. Due to the ongoing problems at the Swiss bank, the shares of banks on the European stock exchanges fell sharply today. ING and ABN AMRO lost almost 10 percent of their value. The AEX index closed almost 3 percent lower. The share of Credit Suisse itself also fell significantly, by over 24 percent. The unrest was still noticeable in the US markets, where they also went into the red. Yesterday, the financial values had also fallen sharply due to the bankruptcy of the Silicon Valley Bank.
