Credit Suisse logged asset outflows of more than $68 billion during first-quarter collapse

Credit Suisse on Monday revealed that it suffered net asset outflows of 61.2 billion Swiss francs ($68.6 billion) during the first-quarter collapse that culminated in its emergency rescue by domestic rival UBS.

The stricken Swiss lender posted a one-off 12.43 billion Swiss franc profit for the first quarter of 2023, due to the controversial write-off of 15 billion Swiss francs of AT1 bonds by the Swiss regulator as part of the deal. The adjusted pre-tax loss for the quarter came in at 1.3 billion Swiss francs.

Swiss authorities brokered the controversial 3 billion Swiss franc rescue over the course of a weekend in late March, following a collapse in Credit Suisse’s deposits and share price amid fears of a global banking crisis.

The acquisition is expected to be consummated by the end of this year, if possible, but the full absorption of Credit Suisse’s business into UBS Group is expected to take around three to four years.

However, the deal remains mired in legal and logistical challenges, particularly around the wipeout of $17 billion of Credit Suisse AT1 bonds.

At its annual general meeting last month Chairman Axel Lehmann and CEO Ulrich Koerner — both of whom took their posts within the last two years and inherited a bank reeling from a series of high-profile scandals, risk management failures and heavy losses — apologized to the 167-year-old Swiss institution’s shareholders and staff.

Credit Suisse posted an annual net loss of 7.3 billion Swiss francs in 2022, including a 1.4 billion loss in the fourth quarter alone, as Lehmann and Koerner attempted a massive strategic overhaul aimed a bolstering its risk and compliance functions and addressing perennial underperformance in the investment bank.

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