April 21 (Reuters) – Credit Suisse creditors holding more than 4.5 billion Swiss francs (4.59 billion euros) in Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds have filed a complaint against the Swiss Federal Supervisory Authority financial markets (FINMA), the Swiss stock market policeman.
As part of the emergency takeover of the bank by its rival UBS at the end of March, the Swiss authorities decided that the value of AT1 securities of Credit Suisse would fall from 16 billion francs to zero, angering some holders of the debt who thought they were better protected than the shareholders in the event of a rescue procedure for the establishment.
The lawsuit, which was filed on April 18 by law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, challenges FINMA’s decision on the impairment, the firm said on Friday.
“FINMA’s decision undermines international confidence in the legal certainty and reliability of the Swiss financial center,” Thomas Werlen of the law firm said in a statement.
FINMA declined to comment on the lawsuit. Credit Suisse did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. (Jahnavi Nidumolu and Jyoti Narayan report in Bangalore; Blandine Hénault for the French version, edited by Bertrand Boucey)
©2023 Thomson Reuters, all rights reserved. Reuters content is the intellectual property of Thomson Reuters or its third party content providers. Any copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. “Reuters” and the Reuters Logo are trademarks of Thomson Reuters and its affiliated companies.