Switzerland

The Swiss National Bank will tighten monetary policy if inflation in Switzerland remains persistently high, governing board member Andrea Maechler said in an interview published on Monday, Reuters reported. The European Central Bank on Monday became the latest institution to signal it was hiking rates to combat soaring inflation, following similar moves by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of England. The SNB could follow suit, should Swiss inflation remain outside its target range 0-2%. April saw the highest inflation rate in Switzerland for 14 years, with prices rising by 2.5%.

Credit Suisse said on Monday that litigation related to Greensill supply chain finance funds (SCFF) could take around five years and warned that some investors would not be able to recover their money, Reuters reported. Credit Suisse racked up a 1.6 billion Swiss franc ($1.73 billion) loss last year when it was hit by the implosion of investment fund Archegos and the collapse of $10 billion in SCFFs linked to insolvent British financier Greensill.

Credit Suisse Group AG shareholders proposed a special audit over the collapse of a group of supply chain finance funds it ran with now-defunct Greensill Capital, after the bank refused to publish an internal report on the matter, Bloomberg News reported. The lender urged shareholders to vote against the proposal at the bank’s annual general meeting next month, saying it could complicate efforts to recover investor money that remains locked up more than a year after it was frozen. The audit is being proposed by the Ethos Foundation and seven Swiss pension funds.

Swiss trader Mercuria Energy Group Ltd. secured a $2 billion emergency credit facility from banks as commodities prices surge following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg News reported. The credit facility, which was secured earlier this month, can be renewed or closed in six months time. Trading houses have been seeking funds to maintain their physical and derivative positions as prices of everything from natural gas to metals soar. With markets upended and sanctions threatening to disrupt raw materials supplies, traders are facing a liquidity squeeze that could reshape the sector.

Swiss-based Russian gas pipeline operator Nord Stream 2 AG said yesterday that it has not filed for insolvency, Reuters reported. "We do not confirm the media reports that Nord Stream 2 has filed for bankruptcy. The company only informed the local authorities that the company had to terminate contracts with employees following the imposition of U.S. sanctions on the company," Nord Stream 2 AG said in emailed comments.

The Swiss-based company which built the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany is considering filing for insolvency, two sources familiar with the situation said, as it attempts to settle claims ahead of a U.S. sanction deadline for other entities to stop dealings with it, Reuters reported. The United States sanctioned Nord Stream 2 AG last week after Russia recognised two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine prior to its invasion of the country, which has prompted a wave of economic sanctions by the West.

Over the past decade, Credito Real SAB was the rising star of a booming new business in Mexico: cutting small loans -- and charging double-digit interest rates -- to the millions of traditionally unbanked all across the country. Now, with its cash hoard shrinking, Credito Real faces a moment of truth, Bloomberg News reported. It either pays off 170 million Swiss francs ($184 million) of bonds due by the end of Wednesday, or goes the way of a smaller peer in the non-bank lending industry that has already fallen into default.

Swiss prosecutors are pursuing around 42.4 million Swiss francs ($45.5 million) in compensation from Credit Suisse in a money-laundering trial due to begin on Feb. 7, the Swiss Federal Criminal Court (FCC) said on Monday, Reuters reported. The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) indicted the bank in December 2020 after an investigation into the activities of a Bulgarian crime ring involving top-level wrestlers accused of laundering profits from cocaine trafficking.

Swiss banks have criticised planned new measures designed to cool the country's red hot property market, saying the steps were unnecessary and would do nothing to slow rising house prices, Bloomberg News reported. The government said on Wednesday that from October, lenders must increase their cushion against home lending risks, sounding the alarm over one of Europe's most expensive housing markets, where total mortgage lending has swollen to more than $1 trillion.