Credit Suisse bank: UBS said to be in takeover talks with troubled rival

Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS, is reportedly in talks to buy all or part of its troubled rival Credit Suisse.

Credit Suisse shares have plunged in recent days after it announced it had found “significant weaknesses” in its financial reports.

An urgent $54 billion (£44.5 billion) lifeline from the Swiss National Bank has not solved the problem.

Regulators are looking to facilitate trading before the market reopens on Monday.

There are concerns that Credit Suisse shares may continue to plunge after falling 24% on Wednesday.

This prompted a general sell-off in European markets and raised fears of a wider financial crisis.

The Swiss government held an emergency meeting on Saturday night, but so far there has been no official statement on the progress of the negotiations.

Sources cited by Reuters said UBS had asked the Swiss government to pay around $6 billion (£4.9 billion) if it were to buy Credit Suisse.

Any transaction could result in significant loss of employment.

The problem coincided with the collapse of two US lenders, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, raising concerns about the health of the banking system.

Founded in 1856, Credit Suisse has faced a string of scandals in recent years, including money laundering charges.

The company reported a loss of CHF 7.3 billion ($7.9 billion, £6.5 billion) in 2022, its worst year since the financial crisis in 2008, and said it does not expect to be profitable until 2024. I am warning you.

However, UBS made a profit of $7.6 billion in 2022.

Credit Suisse is a domestic bank with 95 branches, as well as a global investment banking business, managing a wealth of client assets.

It is one of the 30 banks in the world considered too big to fail because it is so important to the international banking system.

At the end of last year, Credit Suisse had 50,480 global staff, including 16,700 in Switzerland, but 9,000 jobs were to be cut, according to Swiss broadcaster SRF.