More than 2,000 shareholders are expected to travel to Zurich for the general meeting of the country's second largest bank, the tabloid Blick believes, against 1,300 usually and "give free rein to their frustration".

They have reason to be angry, their shares are worth only 76 cents a piece since Sunday, March 19. A derisory price that symbolizes the long descent into hell of the establishment, pillar of the Swiss economy.

Credit Suisse was bought after intense negotiations by its arch-rival UBS, under pressure from Swiss officials who wanted to avoid a collapse at all costs.

And the regulatory authorities have decided in the name of the best interests of the Swiss financial centre that the shareholders of the two banking giants will not have a say contrary to what is the rule.

Concert of reproaches

The general meeting is scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. local time (08:30 GMT) at the Hallenstadion, a Zurich concert hall where big headliners perform and sometimes large corporate events are held.

But this time, the hall should not resonate to the rhythm of the Abbamania, which is to be held there in April, but host a concert of reproaches and recriminations of shareholders.

Holding this general meeting "may seem a little absurd", acknowledged Roger Said, the director of the shareholder organization Actares, but it remains the correct procedure "until the takeover is fully realized," he added in an email to AFP.

A Credit Suisse building in Zurich, March 23, 2023 © Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP/Archives

It will allow shareholders "to express their dissatisfaction or anger," he notes.

In a press release, the Swiss shareholder organization recalls that it has already pointed out for years the inadequacy of Credit Suisse's risk management.

"Now that Credit Suisse has definitively lost market confidence," writes Actares, "we can only hope [..} that at least the integration within UBS takes place responsibly," she adds.

Justice

The list of grievances is long for both small and large shareholders. The stock had already lost 80% of its value since March 2021, when the bank was rocked by the bankruptcy of the British financial company Greensill and the implosion of the American fund Archegos.

But in the panic movement on the banking sector after the bankruptcy of the American bank SVB, the title has sunk low after low point in the week of March 13 to 17. And despite the derisory price reached by the share, shareholders were only offered the equivalent of 0.76 francs per share, or just 0.59% of its value at the close of the stock market at the end of this chaotic week. After the announcement of the takeover, the stock even briefly fell below the offer price.

Within hours of the takeover announcement, a lawyer, Perica Grasarevic, launched a platform to help small holders take legal action. At its peak, the site recorded up to 300 requests per hour, he said on Twitter.

Several items on the agenda of the general meeting were withdrawn last week, including the vote on the discharge that allows to relieve the leaders of their responsibilities and the vote on their future bonuses, these two points becoming "obsolete" with the acquisition by UBS, said Credit Suisse in a statement.

Published before the announcement of the takeover, these points were strongly opposed by shareholder organizations.

In its voting instructions, the American shareholder advisory firm Glass Lewis calls for a vote against the re-election of Axel Lehmann, its chairman called to the rescue in January 2022 to try to turn the bank around. Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest investor, has already indicated that it will vote against his re-election.

UBS will hold its Annual General Meeting on Wednesday in Basel.

© 2023 AFP