Credit Suisse says Greensill litigation could take five years

The logo of Swiss bank Credit Suisse is seen in an office building in Zurich May 9, 2014. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

ZURICH, April 4 (Reuters) – Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) said on Monday litigation over supply chain finance fund Greensill (SCFF) could take around five years and warned some investors may not not get their money back.

Credit Suisse suffered a loss of 1.6 billion Swiss francs ($1.73 billion) last year when it was hit by the implosion of investment fund Archegos and the collapse of 10 billion dollars from SCFF linked to insolvent British financier Greensill. Read more

“It is expected that litigation will be required to enforce claims against individual debtors and insurance companies, which may take around five years,” the Swiss bank said in a statement on its website on Monday. answering questions from the Ethos pension fund advisor.

It said its asset management had taken all necessary steps to recover outstanding amounts since March 2021, but in some cases refinancing or asset sales were not yet possible.

“It can be assumed that investors in the Virtuoso Fund and the High Income Fund will suffer a loss,” he said, adding that the percentage of potential loss could not be estimated at this stage.

Credit Suisse also gave details of a $140 million loan its investment bank extended to Greensill in November 2020 ahead of a possible private placement of Greensill shares or an initial public offering that ultimately did not go through. occurred.

He said the loan did not affect SCFF as it was provided by the investment banking division of Credit Suisse.

The shareholder representative of the Ethos Foundation had asked for more information on the Greensill affair as well as on the dirty money scandal known as “Switzerland Secrets” in February which raised questions about the accounts held at the bank between the 1940s and the 2010s. Read more

Credit Suisse said it had not identified any new concerns related to this latest case and that its actions “were consistent with the processes and requirements applicable at the relevant time.” Read more

($1 = 0.9262 Swiss francs)

Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz; Editing by Miranda Murray and Pravin Char

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