Credit Suisse

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the serious problems facing Credit Suisse will not have wider consequences for the European banking system, according to Greek bankers.

Developments over the past week have felt eerily familiar for those of us who followed the global financial crisis in 2008. Analysts argued in early 2008 that Bear Stearns' problems were a result of poor management and a failure to hedge risk. The spread of instability to a European bank (Commerzbank) was considered to be limited. Sound familiar?

The global financial system will not collapse from the turbulence caused by the demise of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and the problems facing Credit Suisse, as governments and the relevant international institutions have learned from the past; however, there will be further problems in the markets, as high inflation makes it difficult to manage the situation, the president of Eurasia Gr

Maybe it was not necessary for the Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse debacles to come along for the winds of uncertainty to blow in the global economy.

They had already been stirred by the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis, and a rise in inflation in the eurozone.

The Greek stock market opened the week with a 2.1% decline in Monday's first few minutes, as a result of the shocking news of Credit Suisse's demise and takeover by fellow Swiss lender UBS, but stocks gradually began to recover and swung back into the black as the session progressed to close with moderate gains in their majority.

The exposure of Greek banks to Credit Suisse is "almost zero," Greek central bank chief Yannis Stournaras told Reuters on Monday.

"They (the Greek banks) are not exposed to Credit Suisse's Additional Tier 1," Stournaras, who also sits on the ECB's 26-member Governing Council, said, adding that Greek banks are solid. [Reuters]

UBS also took up to $5.4 billion (about 5.05 billion euros) in losses, based on a plan by Swiss authorities to avoid further turmoil in the banking market.
The agreement also includes 108 billion dollars of aid (about 101 billion euros) for the liquidity of UBS and Credit Suisse, which will be paid by the Swiss Central Bank.

Swiss Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter said the government's decision to provide liquidity support to UBS Group AG and Credit Suisse was made with the aim of maintaining financial stability and not simply a desire to save a troubled institution.

Banking giant UBS is buying troubled rival Credit Suisse for almost $3.25 billion, in a deal orchestrated by regulators to stave off further market-shaking turmoil in the global banking system.

Switzerland's biggest bank UBS is in talks to buy the country's second-largest bank, Credit Suisse, which has found itself in trouble, the Financial Times (FT) reported, citing several unnamed sources.