Swiss National Bank

Hello! Today we wrap up for the first round of Christmas holidays with warm wishes to all our readers—for health, happiness, and peace of mind. May there be less “toxic material” around us. As I close with these wishes, I can’t help but comment on something that doesn’t annoy me but… amazes me.

Hello! The news that was widely discussed was the departure of the Prime Minister’s economic advisor, Alexis Patelis, from his position at the end of the year. Let’s start with the basics: Patelis left on his own and in a good climate—this to dispel any recycled scenarios that he supposedly disagreed with the upcoming measures against banks or with the recent statements by K.M.

Swiss Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter said Switzerland's economy would probably have collapsed had Credit Suisse gone bankrupt, in an interview published yesterday.

Keller-Sutter told Le Temps newspaper that the government had acted in the country's best interests in swiftly arranging the takeover of Switzerland's second-biggest bank by its larger domestic rival UBS.

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.

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.

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 European Central Bank today raised the key interest rate by 50 basis points to 3.5%, the highest level since 2008, and did not comment on what its future steps might be to control inflation.

The Swiss bank Credit Suisse will take a short-term loan of up to 50 billion Swiss francs from the Swiss National Bank.

The bank, whose shares collapsed yesterday on the Swiss stock exchange, announced in parallel a series of debt buybacks for around 3 billion Swiss francs. Yesterday, the bank's share price fell by 24.24 percent.

The Euro continued to fall on Wednesday, hitting a new 20-year low below US$1.0200 and is on track to reach the cash level (1.0000) soon on growing concerns that Russia may cut off supplies of gas to Europe, contributing to the entry of the Eurozone into recession, which would make it difficult for the ECB to carry out its planned policy of raising interest rates to control record inflation.