Thomas Jordan, the long-time Chairman of the National Bank, reportedly wanted to intervene much earlier at Credit Suisse, according to a media report. But his concerns were brushed aside.

Even months before the emergency takeover by UBS last March, Thomas Jordan, the chairman of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), was wanting to intervene at Credit Suisse (CS).

As news agency «Reuters» reported as part of a larger investigation, the central banker wanted to inject 50 billion Swiss francs ($58 billion) of liquidity into the country’s second-largest bank and bring it under state control.

«Simply Be Left Alone»

But according to the agency, the federal government, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) and, no less importantly, Credit Suisse’s management said no to this request. The former Minister of Finance, Ueli Maurer, said in an interview in December 2022 that CS should simply be left alone for a year or two.

But the banking giant did not have much time left. In spring, after the bank had been left to fend for itself, it became the first major systemically important bank to be rescued in spectacular fashion since the 2008 financial crisis.

Under Pressure During the Coronavirus Crisis

SNB Chairman Jordan was, the report says, already concerned about Credit Suisse in February 2020. At that time, bank CEO Tidjane Thiam had to resign because of the «spygate» scandal involving the surveillance of employees. Soon after, the bank came under pressure due to the coronavirus pandemic, as during the crisis, major clients were using credit lines which CS had difficulty in funding.

The events prompted the supervisory authorities to demand higher liquidity buffers from the bank. These were utilized in October 2022, when CS experienced its first bank run and, according to Finma, narrowly avoided going under.

Hesitant and Divided?

Even the new Reuters report fails to paint a positive picture of the Swiss supervisory authorities in the Credit Suisse debacle. It concluded that they were hesitant and divided in their response. And when the showdown came to a head in 2023, they were still inadequately prepared for the collapse.

In light of this, it makes sense that Finma, the leading authority in the CS rescue, is again presenting its version of the events in the CS rescue today (Tuesday) when it publishes its report on the «Lessons learned from the CS crisis» in the morning.