Trouble is piling up for Credit Suisse. According to Financial Times, the bank simply asked investors to destroy certain documents. Its goal : “Stop the leak of information about a unit of the bank that granted loans to oligarchs who were then sanctioned”, writes the British business newspaper. the FT got hold of a letter received last week from investors asking them to destroy the documents relating to the loans backed by “jets, yachts, real estate and financial assets”.
The banking institution is indeed experiencing serious leaks lately. A month ago, the FinancialTimes already revealed how Credit Suisse engaged in financial arrangements “unusual” for “offload the risks associated with lending to ultra-rich oligarchs and tycoons,” in particular concerning yacht or aircraft rentals. The financial daily points out that these loans have become very risky due to international sanctions against large Russian fortunes since 2014. In 2017 and 2018, Credit Suisse reportedly experienced twelve defaults on its yacht and aircraft loans, including a third “linked to US sanctions against Russian oligarchs”citing the examples of Oleg Deripaska and the brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenberg.
the FT notes that the last mail from Credit Suisse left the same week that the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union imposed new economic sanctions against Russian interests, following the invasion of Ukraine. “I don’t think we’ve ever had a request like this,” commented to the daily an investor who received the letter in question. He notes that his company only received similar notices when it accidentally received confidential documents.
A bank shaken by scandals
Since March 2021, Credit Suisse has been rocked by repeated scandals: the bankruptcy of the financial company Greensill, the implosion of the American fund Archegos, the fines for loans in Mozambique and the abrupt resignation of its president, eight months and half after he took over, for breaking quarantine rules.
Last February, another scandal. An international journalistic investigation dubbed “Swiss Secrets” highlighted questionable practices by the second largest Swiss bank. Based on information leaked from more than 18,000 bank accounts administered by Credit Suisse from the 1940s to the end of the 2010s, the investigation establishes that the banking establishment harbored funds obtained from criminality , corruption or embezzlement of public money for several decades.
Credit Suisse strongly rejected these accusations, considering that they were based on data “partial”, “inaccurate” Where “taken out of context”. The bank has yet to comment on the latest information from the FT.