Credit Suisse, the troubled Swiss lender, saw its share price fall by more than 10% on Friday, despite securing a £45bn lifeline from the country’s central bank. The fall came as stock markets across the UK and Europe turned negative amid fears of a banking crisis.
The bank’s shares had initially risen following the announcement of the lifeline from the Swiss National Bank, but the gains were short-lived as investor confidence remained fragile. The bank has been struggling to recover from a series of scandals, including a $5.5bn loss from the collapse of the family office Archegos Capital Management.
The fall in Credit Suisse’s share price has also had a knock-on effect on other financial institutions, with major US indexes falling amid fears of more trouble. On Thursday, a group of Wall Street giants injected $30bn into First Republic, a smaller domestic bank seen as at risk of failure following the collapse of two other mid-sized US banks in recent days.
The rescue by the group of 11 banks, including JP Morgan and Citigroup, had initially appeared to calm stock markets. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei share index closed 1.2% higher. However, shares in First Republic fell 25% on Friday after the bank announced it was suspending its dividend payment “during this period of uncertainty”.
Stock markets in the UK, France, and Germany all opened higher on Friday but have since fallen. The continuing volatility in the financial sector has heightened concerns about a wider crisis and the ability of banks to weather further shocks. While central banks have stepped in to provide support, investors remain cautious, and the situation is likely to remain uncertain for some time.
