Another fine mess: Credit Suisse faces £750m bill over former Georgia PM’s assets
The embattled, scandal-hit and soon to cease to exist lender Credit Suisse announced this morning it will appeal a ruling in a Singapore court that it breached its duty to safeguard the assets of a former Georgian Prime Minister.
The ruling, in a Singapore court, will see the bank forced to cough up $926m (£750m) if the appeal fails.
“The plaintiffs have established that the defendant breached its duty to the plaintiffs to safeguard the trust assets as at 30 March 2008,” the Singapore International Commercial Court said in a judgment published on Friday.
Credit Suisse said the judgment was “wrong.”
The bank has been hit by a string of scandals in recent years, from former CEO Tidjane Thiam hiring private investigators to spy on fellow senior staff to ex-chair Antonio Horta Osorio being forced to quit after breaking Covid-19 pandemic restrictions to watch the tennis at Wimbledon.
And the bank’s more than century long heritage is soon to be subsumed by its longtime rival UBS, after a collapse in confidence earlier this year led to a bank run and a shotgun marriage between the two, brokered by the Swiss government.
This is a breaking news story – more to follow