Bloomberg: Several Branches of Credit Suisse may Close

Most of the branches of Credit Suisse, the leading Swiss investment bank, are at risk of collapse due to a drop in income in the first half of this year.

Bloomberg reports that up to 2/3 of the bank’s branches may be closed in the worst case. According to it, the investment bank could not withstand the long-term competition with the American financial conglomerate and lost approximately one billion dollars in the first six months. Insiders do not rule out the possibility that the investment bank will cease to exist as a separate department.

Credit Swiss’s failed investments include Archegos Capital Management and Greensill Capital, which went bankrupt last year. This damaged the competitiveness of the Swiss bank. According to Bloomberg analysts, if in the early 2010s Credit Suisse was among the five largest global investment banks, now the position of the Swiss financial giant has been shaken.

On August 19, the main shareholder of Credit Suisse, the American investment company Harris Associates, called the credit institution to improve the work of the investment department. The company considers that the preferred option is to reform the investment department to achieve sustainable profitability in the future. However, in the event of failure, Harris Associates does not rule out alternative solutions, such as a sale or separation as a separate entity.