Thousands of city jobs at risk in race to bail out Credit Suisse
Thousands of jobs are at risk in the city as regulators race to rescue one of the world’s biggest banks before markets open Monday morning.
Officials and bankers are scrambling to secure a mercy takeover of Credit Suisse, a Swiss lender with a balance sheet of more than £470billion, after a disastrous week in which shares fell nearly a fifth and speculation intensified over his future.
The Swiss authorities are trying to cross a takeover of the bank by its rival UBS after concluding that this was the only option likely to provide long-term stability. An agreement could be reached as early as Saturday evening, with the boards of the two banks meeting over the weekend.
There are fears that failure to reach an agreement by Monday morning could cause shares to fall further which would have serious repercussions for markets around the world.
A previous attempt to restore market confidence by injecting $54bn (£44bn) into Credit Suisse with an emergency loan from the Swiss central bank failed to calm nerves on Wednesday, with stocks falling in the following days.
The talks are being closely watched by the Bank of England, which is not the lead regulator for either bank but is monitoring potential repercussions in the UK.
Credit Suisse and UBS employ around 10,000 people in London, with headquarters in Canary Wharf and Broadgate in the City respectively. Banking industry insiders expect one of the largest layoff programs since the 2008 crisis if the takeover continues.
A takeover would create one of the biggest banks in the world, with a balance sheet of £1.3trillion, more than twice the size of the Swiss economy – raising the question of whether it would be too big to rescue if the commotion does not subside.
Parts of the bank would likely be auctioned off by UBS in the coming weeks, with rival Deutsche Bank expressing interest in some of its businesses.
US investment firm Blackrock also considered a bid for Credit Suisse before ruling out making a bid, according to the Financial Times.
Thousands of city jobs at risk in race to bail out Credit Suisse
