Zurich – Financial Treason & Crime

John Revill, 16 April 2021

ZURICH (Reuters) – The Swiss National Bank (SNB) said on Friday it remained ready to intervene in foreign exchange markets, after the U.S. Treasury Department dropped its currency manipulator label for the country even though it met criteria for the designation.

The Swiss central bank noted the U.S. Treasury Department did not use the term currency manipulator in a new report, adding its foreign exchange purchases were not intended to alter Swiss balance of payments or unfairly help the Swiss economy.

“The SNB’s position is therefore clear: Switzerland does not engage in any currency manipulation,” the SNB said. Continue reading “Article: Switzerland’s SNB Still Ready for Forex Intervention as U.S. Drops Manipulator Tag”

04/06/2021

Article: Credit Suisse overhauls management as it takes $4.7 billion hit on Archegos

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Credit Suisse overhauls management as it takes $4.7 billion hit on Archegos

Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi, Matt Scuffham, 06 April 2021

ZURICH (Reuters) -Credit Suisse said on Tuesday it will take a 4.4 billion Swiss franc ($4.7 billion) hit from dealings with Archegos Capital Management, prompting it to overhaul the leadership of its investment bank and risk division.

The scandal-hit bank now expects to post a loss for the first quarter of around 900 million Swiss francs. It is also suspending its share buyback plans and cutting its dividend by two thirds. Continue reading “Article: Credit Suisse overhauls management as it takes $4.7 billion hit on Archegos”

03/31/2021

Article: In Archegos fire sale, Credit Suisse, Nomura burned by slow exit

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In Archegos fire sale, Credit Suisse, Nomura burned by slow exit

Matt Scuffham, Elizabeth Dilts Marshall, Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi, 31 March 2021

NEW YORK/ZURICH (Reuters) -While banks including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank were able to exit their trades with Archegos Capital relatively unscathed, Credit Suisse and Nomura have been burned in the fire sale.

The blowup of the Archegos fund, a family office run by former Tiger Asia manager Bill Hwang, is still reverberating across the financial system, with global banks so far standing to lose more than $6 billion.

Switzerland’s Credit Suisse and Japan’s Nomura are expected to bear the brunt of that. Continue reading “Article: In Archegos fire sale, Credit Suisse, Nomura burned by slow exit”

03/30/2021

Article: One of World’s Greatest Hidden Fortunes Is Wiped Out in Days

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One of World’s Greatest Hidden Fortunes Is Wiped Out in Days

Katherine Burton and Tom Maloney, 30 March 2021

From his perch high above Midtown Manhattan, just across from Carnegie Hall, Bill Hwang was quietly building one of the world’s greatest fortunes.

Even on Wall Street, few ever noticed him — until suddenly, everyone did.

Hwang and his private investment firm, Archegos Capital Management, are now at the center of one of the biggest margin calls of all time — a multibillion-dollar fiasco involving secretive market bets that were dangerously leveraged and unwound in a blink. Continue reading “Article: One of World’s Greatest Hidden Fortunes Is Wiped Out in Days”

03/25/202103/31/2021

Article: UPDATE 3-Less vocal Swiss central bank still set for loose policy

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UPDATE 3-Less vocal Swiss central bank still set for loose policy

John Revill, Silke Koltrowitz, 25 March 2021

ZURICH, March 25 (Reuters) – The Swiss National Bank toned down its verbal commitment to foreign currency interventions and raised its inflation outlook on Thursday, but chairman Thomas Jordan said this did not mean the bank would quit its ultra-expansive policy.

The central bank kept its benchmark interest rate locked at minus 0.75% as forecast by all economists in a Reuters poll, reiterating its commitment to a policy in place since 2015, spearheaded by the world’s deepest negative rate. Continue reading “Article: UPDATE 3-Less vocal Swiss central bank still set for loose policy”

03/22/202103/23/2021

Article: Credit Suisse Gets Extra EU Charge Sheet in FX Rigging Probe

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Credit Suisse Gets Extra EU Charge Sheet in FX Rigging Probe

Aoife White and Hugo Miller, 22 March 2021

The EU and the Zurich-based bank confirmed the so-called supplementary statement of objections, which adds to earlier charges sent in July 2018 based on information swapped in currency traders’ chatrooms. Credit Suisse denies wrongdoing and is fighting allegations that other banks have agreed to settle.

“Credit Suisse continues to believe that it did not engage in any systemic conduct in the FX markets which violated the European Union’s competition rules,” the bank said in a statement.

The commission said it sent the objections as it “continues investigating past conduct in the forex spot trading market.” It declined to provide further details while the case is ongoing.

EU regulators are still investigating Credit Suisse and potential collusion with other banks, years after other authorities meted out billions of dollars in fines in similar probes. The EU’s probe dates back to 2013 and follows a Bloomberg report that uncovered traders’ manipulation of benchmark foreign-exchange rates. A first set of banks, including Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., agreed to pay EU penalties of more than $1 billion in 2019.

Regulators pushed on with a parallel probe into similar allegations involving Credit Suisse and other banks that aren’t challenging the EU. Such a “hybrid cartel” means officials need to make legal findings against all participants in a cartel at the same time — even if some are prepared to settle in return for a lower fine and shorter process.

Credit Suisse also challenged a 2018 information request in a probe by Switzerland’s Competition Commission into possible currency manipulation, the only bank to do so. The lender was ordered to hand over data that year after it lost a court ruling in which it had argued that doing so would violate a rule preventing self-incrimination.

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