How Credit Suisse evolved until its merger with UBS
ZURICH, May 31 (Reuters) -Following is a timeline outlining the 168-year history of Credit Suisse Group, the Zurich-based bank that was formally absorbed on Friday by Swiss rival UBS UBSG.S after a 3 billion franc takeover last year.
1856
Politician and business leader Alfred Escher founds Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (SKA) to finance the expansion of the railroad network and promote Swiss industrialisation.
1876
The bank moves into new headquarters on Zurich's Paradeplatz; its first branch outside Zurich opens in Basel nearly three decades later.
1934
First Boston becomes the first publicly held investment bank in the United States.
1939
SKA creates Swiss American Corporation (New York) to focus on the underwriting and investment business.
1962
SKA takes over White, Weld and Co AG in Zurich from U.S. investment bank White Weld, and renames it Clariden Finanz AG.
1964
SKA gets a licence as a full-service bank in New York.
1977
Chiasso Affair money-laundering scandal leads to a historic loss and spurs the bank's transition to an international financial group.
1982
SKA becomes the first Swiss bank with a seat on the New York Stock Exchange via its SASI unit; CS Holding is set up as a sister company of SKA to hold stakes in industrial companies.
1988
CS Holding buys a 45% stake in First Boston as part of a rescue deal, and renames it CS First Boston; the two had first linked up a decade earlier to operate in the London bond market.
1989
CS Holding becomes SKA group's parent company.
1990
The group takes a controlling stake in U.S. investment bank CS First Boston and buys Bank Leu, a Swiss private bank.
1993
The group buys Volksbank, Switzerland's fourth-largest bank, and a year later buys Neue Aargauer Bank.
1997
A reorganisation turns CS Holding into Credit Suisse Group and drops the SKA name; it also buys insurer Winterthur, a strategic partner.
1999
The group buys the asset management business of Warburg, Pincus & Co, followed by the purchase of Wall Street firm Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ) a year later.
2002
A reorganisation creates two units: Credit Suisse Financial Services and Credit Suisse First Boston; two years later it splits into three units by adding Winterthur.
2005
Credit Suisse and CSFB merge and stop using the Credit Suisse First Boston brand name.
2006
The group divests Winterthur to French insurer AXA.
2007
The group merges four private banking units and a securities trading company into Clariden Leu.
2007/2008
The bank survives the global financial crisis without needing a state bailout, unlike rival UBS.
2012
The group absorbs Clariden Leu and merges private banking and asset management into one division.
2013
The group buys Morgan Stanley's wealth management businesses in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
2015
The group realigns under CEO Tidjane Thiam into three wealth management units supported by two investment banking divisions.
2020
In February, a scandal over the bank's covert surveillance operations leads to Thiam's departure.
In March, U.S. investment fund Archegos implodes, saddling Credit Suisse with a $5.5 billion loss.
The same month it has to freeze $10 billion in supply chain finance funds linked to insolvent British financier Greensill Capital, which it had marketed to clients as low-risk products.
2021
Antonio Horta-Osorio resigns as chairman less than nine months after joining the bank, after breaching COVID-19 quarantine rules. Alex Lehmann replaces him.
JULY 2022
The bank names restructuring expert Ulrich Koerner as CEO to replace Thomas Gottstein and announces another strategic review.
OCTOBER 2022
Announces a sweeping plan to refocus on banking for the wealthy, including a 4 billion Swiss franc capital raising, a headcount reduction and separating out its investment bank to create CS First Boston.
Saudi National Bank says it will buy shares giving it a stake of as much as 9.9%.
MARCH 2023
Credit Suisse's 2022 annual report identifies "material weaknesses" in internal controls over financial reporting.
The bank's shares drop by as much as 30% after its largest shareholder Saudi National Bank said it could not provide more support because of regulatory constraints.
Credit Suisse secures a $54 billion lifeline from the Swiss central bank to shore up liquidity, and after frantic negotiations UBS agrees to buy the bank for 3 billion Swiss francs in stock and assume up to 5 billion francs in losses, in a deal engineered by Swiss authorities.
JUNE 2023
UBS completes the takeover of Credit Suisse, creating a banking and wealth management giant.
MAY 2024
UBS says Koerner, Credit Suisse's last CEO, will depart the bank later this year.
UBS completes the merger of the parent companies of UBS and Credit Suisse, formally becoming the successor to its old rival.
Reporting by Zurich Newsroom
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
