The end of an era or a beloved institution can unleash strong emotions. Some cling to the remnants of the past as the basis for nostalgia, which others look to capitalize on, research by finews.com shows.
When Credit Suisse's annual general meeting (AGM) took place Tuesday, it was the 167-year-old Swiss institution's last. In the future, the financial institution will operate under the umbrella of its rival UBS.
It's difficult for many to accept such an abrupt demise of Credit Suisse. Even if the brand continues to exist for a few more years, it will no longer be the same. From now on, Switzerland will have only one big bank, and it will be called UBS.
A New Look SKA Ski Hat?
The approaching end of Credit Suisse is stirring emotions in many quarters, be it in politics, in business circles, among the general public, and, of course, among the thousands of Credit Suisse bank employees, who are confronted with a great deal of uncertainty. After all, no one knows how things will continue or what a new «monster UBS» will look like.
It is making people look back to the past, when «the world» of Credit Suisse still made sense. The era is symbolized, among other things, by the legendary SKA (the former name of Credit Suisse) ski hat from the 1970s, which is now being used to mark the swan song of Credit Suisse. On Saturday, the «Tages-Anzeiger» (in German, behind paywall) allowed itself an April fool's joke by announcing a remake of the cap with a UBS logo.
(UBS ski hat: Tages-Anzeiger Screenshot)
The SKA cap is also the poster child for the Credit Suisse memorabilia industry that sprang up overnight. On the online auction platform Ricardo.ch, the cap (beware of fakes!) is being offered for several hundred francs and can be seen along with other Credit Suisse memorabilia. US competitor eBay is hawking other mementos, including a Credit Suisse gold pendant in «Greek style» for the equivalent of around 300 francs or numerous, smaller gold bars with Credit Suisse embossing and watches with the bank's logo.
«New commemorative pieces» are also being fabricated, such as baseball caps and T-shirts with the inscription «Credit Suisse Risk Management Department 2022,» alluding to the department's failings in the Archegos and Greensill debacles, which resulted in billions of losses for Credit Suisse.
(Screenshot of Redbubble website)
The website Litquidity.com, specializing in «mint» condition memorabilia related to corporate bankruptcies of all kinds, offers a baseball cap and a mug with the inscription Debit Suisse. Arbitrage Andy is another website capitalizing on this, or at least trying to.
One might well wonder who has a hankering for such items. To be sure, tastelessness was never an obstacle to something not coming into fashion. Objects from «fallen» companies like Lehman Brothers are extremely popular among collectors. Such pieces have a unique character because the company behind them no longer exists.
(CSFB's 2000 annual report. Above right in the picture: Brady Dougan)
Memorabilia from the corporate world also reveals how companies develop over time. A look at the annual reports of the investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) at the turn of the millennium shows how American the bank presented itself at the time when Brady Dougan was still head of equity. A few years later, he would become CEO and navigate the bank through the 2008 financial crisis.
At the time, Credit Suisse briefly even had a higher market capitalization than rival UBS, still in the process of digesting the merger between Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) and Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC).
(Physiscal Credit Suisse Stock Certificate, Source: Private Collection)
Adjusted for splits, Credit Suisse stock traded between 70 and 80 francs, a hundred times more than they are worth today. At that time, the bank also issued its last physical shares (pictured above).
