Perceived as the weak link in the banking sector in Switzerland, the institution saw its share price lose up to 30% to touch a new historic low of 1.55 Swiss francs despite the intervention of its president, Axel Lehmann, to reassure.

At 15:30 GMT, an hour before the close, it still gave up 15.5%.

At a conference for the banking sector in Saudi Arabia, its president Axel Lehmann assured that the bank does not need government aid.

This is "not a subject", he said, stressing that Credit Suisse was relying on "solid financial ratios", without however managing to reassure the markets.

Apart from these public statements, the bank as well as the financial authorities and the government remained silent throughout the day.

But according to the Financial Times, citing three anonymous sources, Credit Suisse has asked, in vain for the moment, "a gesture of support" from the Swiss central bank and the market authority, Finma.

The concern goes beyond the borders of the Alpine country.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne asked the Swiss authorities to solve the bank's problems and indicated that her finance minister would still speak to his Swiss counterpart today.

Abyss

The precipitous fall in the stock – the bank was worth just over CHF 7.2 billion in terms of market capitalization at the end of the afternoon – began after statements by the chairman of the Saudi National Bank, Credit Suisse's largest shareholder.

The Saudis came to the bank's rescue by taking a stake in its capital in November. But the Saudi National Bank "absolutely not" intends to inject more money for "several reasons", said Ammar al-Khudairy, its president.

Credit Suisse © Bank Jean-Michel CORNU / AFP

The simplest is "regulatory" issues, he said. The Saudi national bank holds a 9.8% stake. But under Swiss law, FINMA would have to decide if it crossed the 10% threshold.

In an interview with Reuters, al-Khudairy said he was "very happy" with Credit Suisse's restructuring program, citing a "very solid" bank.

Founded in 1856, Credit Suisse is a pillar of the Swiss financial centre that has contributed to the rise of the country's railways, to the emergence of insurance giants such as Swiss Re and Swiss Life, and to the financing of major industrial companies, including the forerunner of ABB.

But Credit Suisse has been in turmoil for two years since the bankruptcy of the British financial company Greensill, which marked the beginning of a series of scandals that have weakened the bank.

Since March 2021, the stock has lost more than 83% of its value.

"The pressure on Credit Suisse has hit an already nervous market," Jane Foley, an analyst at Rabobank, told AFP.

- A 'whole other world' -

The new shareholder's statements struck a chord as investors worry about the risk of contagion after the collapse of the US bank SVB.

Customers outside the headquarters of Silicon Valley Bank in Santa Clara, March 13, 2023 © NOAH BERGER / AFP

"There seems to be investors who are increasingly worried," Neil Wilson, an analyst at Finalto, said in a market commentary.

But if Credit Suisse were to face "existential problems", then "we would be faced with something of a completely different dimension. It is really too important to be allowed to sink," he insisted.

Unlike SVB, Credit Suisse is one of 30 banks worldwide considered too big to fail, which requires stricter regulation to withstand the shock in the event of a difficulty.

Contacted by AFP, the Swiss Central Bank, which has not yet spoken, did not wish to comment.

In October, Credit Suisse launched a major restructuring program to try to recover.

But some shareholders have ended up throwing in the towel like the American investment firm Harris Associates, long its largest shareholder, which had revealed last week to have completely sold its stake in the bank.

In early February, Credit Suisse had unveiled a net loss of 7.3 billion Swiss francs (nearly 7.4 billion euros) for the 2022 financial year against the backdrop of massive withdrawals of funds by its clients and warned that it still expected a "substantial" pre-tax loss in 2023.

© 2023 AFP