Financial news

Saudi National Bank was named as a major investor in Credit Suisse’s $4bn rights issue, which was announced to fund a  broader restructure at the bank. The state-owned bank will now own 9.9% of Credit Suisse after it agreed to invest $1.5bn.

READ Why Credit Suisse is attractive to Saudi Arabia’s largest bank

At least three investors will also take place in a $2.24bn right issue at a later date, the FT reported. These include Qatar Investment Authority and Saudi-owned Olayan Group, which will keep its stake at around 5%, resulting in an overall holding of between 20% and 25% in Credit Suisse for the Middle Eastern trio.

A Credit Suisse spokesperson declined to comment. The Qatar Investment Authority was contacted for comment.

Credit Suisse unveiled a major overhaul of its business on 27 October, spinning out its investment bank into a new unit called CS First Boston and announcing plans to strip out 9,000 jobs over the next three years. The Swiss bank has been plagued with successive crises over the past 18 months, including a $5.5bn hit from the collapse of family office Archegos Capital.

Around $35bn of risk-weighted assets will be stripped out of Credit Suisse in its new capital release unit, also known as a ‘bad bank’, which will be run by Louise Kitchen, who previously headed a similar division at Deutsche Bank.

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