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Credit Suisse rallied on the stock market Thursday after grabbing a $54 -billion central bank lifeline in a bid to restore investor confidence but analysts remain wary about the major lender’s future.
Shares in Switzerland’s second-biggest bank closed up 19 percent at 2.02 Swiss francs, recovering some of the ground lost Wednesday on its worst-ever day on the stock exchange.
As market fears over the risk of another global banking crisis swirled, shares plunged more than 30 percent during Wednesday’s trading to 1.55 Swiss francs, pushing the Swiss National Bank to come to the rescue in a bid to reassure the markets.
Hours before the stock exchange reopened, Credit Suisse announced it would borrow 50 billion francs from the SNB to reinforce the group.
The embattled bank said it was also making buyback offers on about $3 billion worth of debt.
“These measures demonstrate decisive action to strengthen Credit Suisse as we continue our strategic transformation,” chief executive Ulrich Koerner said in a statement.
The Swiss government called a special meeting on Thursday at which it was briefed by the Swiss financial regulator FINMA and the SNB, the Swiss news agency ATS reported, though the government did not comment on the discussions.
Credit Suisse’s stock slide Wednesday came after Ammar al-Khudairy, chairman of its biggest shareholder, Saudi National Bank, said it would “absolutely not” raise its stake in the group due to regulatory constraints.
