Shares of Credit Suisse crashed more than 20% to a record low after its biggest shareholder appeared to rule out providing any more funding for the embattled Swiss lender.
In an interview with Bloomberg, the chairman of the Saudi National Bank said it not would increase its stake in the Swiss lender.
“The answer is absolutely not, for many reasons. I’ll cite the simplest reason, which is regulatory and statutory. We now own 9.8% of the bank — if we go above 10% all kinds of new rules kick in, whether be it by our regulator or the European regulator or the Swiss regulator,” Ammar Al Khudairy told Bloomberg. “We’re not inclined to get into a new regulatory regime.”
He made similar comments to Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Saudi Arabia. He also said that he was happy with the transformation plan and doesn’t think the Swiss lender will need extra money.
“We are happy with the plan, the transformation plan that they have put forward. It is a very strong bank,” Al Khudairy said in an interview with Reuters.
“I don’t think they will need extra money; if you look at their ratios, they’re fine. And they operate under a strong regulatory regime in Switzerland and in other countries,” Al Khudairy said on the sidelines of a conference in Riyadh.
The stock was trading down nearly 22% in Zurich on Wednesday.
Credit Suisse declined to comment.
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