Luckin Collapse Adds to Credit Suisse’s Asian Loan Losses

Credit Suisse Group AG was stung by the collapse of Luckin Coffee Inc. in China following an accounting scandal, which led to a five-fold increase in Asian loan-loss provisions, Bloomberg News reported. The Swiss bank set aside 97 million Swiss francs ($100 million) for soured loans, primarily related to three cases, the largest of which was Luckin Coffee, according to a person familiar with the matter. The bank only referred to a “Chinese food and beverage company” in its earnings statement Thursday. Credit Suisse led the initial public offering for Luckin in New York last year and is among the biggest creditors on defaulted loans to Luckin founder Lu Zhengyao. The bank provided about $100 million in margin loans before accounting fraud allegations at the Chinese company triggered a collapse in the stock this month. Luckin, the biggest challenger to Starbucks Corp. in China, has said its chief operating officer and some of its employees may have fabricated about $310 million in sales. Read more