Financial services

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.

A group of mid-sized US banks has called on US federal regulators to guarantee all their customers' deposits for 2 years, even if they are above the guaranteed deposit limit of up to 250,000 dollars. The aim is to avoid the "phenomenon of contagion" after the bankruptcy of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), reports "Bloomberg", quoted by AFP and BTA.

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.

America's largest banks moved on March 16 to shore up First Republic, easing fears that the regional lender could be the next domino to fall after collapses including Silicon Valley Bank.

A consortium of 11 US private banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase, announced they would deposit $30 billion into First Republic.

"The US banking system remains stable and Americans can feel confident that their deposits will be available when they are needed, thanks to the 'decisive and strong' action taken after Silicon Valley Bank's (SVB) failure to deal with the outflow of deposits at its end last week," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told the Senate Finance Committee, Reuters reported.

Credit Suisse announced yesterday that it would borrow almost $54 billion from the Swiss central bank to reinforce the group after a plunge in its share prices.

The disclosure came just hours after the Swiss National Bank said capital and liquidity levels at the lender were adequate for a "systemically important bank," even as it pledged to make liquidity available if needed.

The turmoil in the US banking sector following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) should have only a limited impact on European banks, which are organized differently, said ratings agencies Moody's and S&P Global on Tuesday, AFP reported.