Banking Stocks Credit Suisse, Nomura Reeling From Archegos Hedge Fund Fire Sale
ADELIA CELLINI LINECKER, 29 March 2021
Investment banks Nomura (NMR), Credit Suisse (CS) and possibly others are on the hook for billions of dollars in losses as Archegos Capital Management hedge fund was forced to dump more shares Monday to meet liquidity minimums. Nomura and Credit Suisse stocks plunged more than 10%.
Among the companies affected by the fire sale that started last week are ViacomCBS (VIAC) and Discovery Communications (DISCA). Their shares sank more than 25% on Friday.
Archegos has sold nearly $30 billion in shares so far to meet a margin call. A broker makes a margin call to require a client to add funds to its account if the value of it drops below a certain level. The client, in this case Archegos, has to liquidate investments to meet that requirement.
While neither bank specifically identified Archegos, media outlets have linked their losses to the hedge fund. Both banks put out statements Monday confirming the impact of the margin call on their business.
Credit Suisse said in a news release that a “significant U.S.-based hedge fund defaulted on margin calls made last week by Credit Suisse and certain other banks.”
It said that while it’s too soon to quantify the exact size of the loss, “It could be highly significant and material to our first quarter results, notwithstanding the positive trends announced in our trading statement earlier this month.”
