Weary Credit Suisse investors fear a long wait for the bank to get back on piste after a string of scandals which have wiped billions off its market value and piled pressure on management.
While Switzerland’s second-largest bank says that it can create value by serving its wealthy clients with “care and entrepreneurial spirit”, the market is not yet convinced and its share price has dropped by nearly a third in a year, knocking some 10 billion Swiss francs ($11 billion) off its valuation.
Meanwhile, other big European banks, buoyed by the prospect of rising interest rates, have gained almost 50% in stock market value over the same period and its cross-town Zurich rival UBS has left Credit Suisse for dust.
“Credit Suisse has a long list of scandals and problems,” Stefan Sauerschell, a bond investor with Union Investment, said of the bank, which was founded in 1856 and says it has 48,770 employees and 3,510 relationship managers around the world.
“We always thought the management process would be improved and then the next punch landed. If there was another billion-plus loss, it would be a catastrophe,” Sauerschell added.
Things did not get any better last week, however, when Credit Suisse reported a worse-than-expected $2.2 billion quarterly loss and warned of bleak prospects for 2022, when it said earnings would be hit by restructuring costs and pay.
That outlook knocked its already battered shares further, after a year when the bank racked up a 1.6 billion franc loss as a result of the collapse of $10 billion in supply chain finance funds linked to insolvent British finance firm Greensill and a $5.5 billion hit from the implosion of investment fund Archegos.
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