By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The office of the Attorney General in Switzerland says it has opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding embattled bank Credit Suisse, which is set to be acquired by rival UBS.
The attorney general’s office on Monday stated that it wanted to “proactively fulfill its remit and its responsibility to contribute to a clean Swiss financial sector.”
It hinted that it has set up “monitoring” that would enable it to get involved immediately if any offenses were committed that come under its auspices.
Switzerland’s government and financial regulators had assisted to engineer the arranged, $3.25 billion agreement that was aimed in part to help calm worries about the global financial system and will leave the country with a single huge global bank.
The probe falls short of a formal investigation and is not a criminal inquiry, the attorney general’s office said.
The office was responding to an emailed request on Monday for comment following a report by Financial Times over the weekend about the probe but the attorney general’s office did not make reference to UBS.
Both banks declined to comment about the probe.
Prosecutors said they want to gain an overview of the events surrounding Credit Suisse and to “secure and evaluate the available information” to analyze and identify any relevant offenses. It stressed that it cannot anticipate the result of the “clarifications” it has set in motion and didn’t identify any specific possible offense.
The takeover of Credit Suisse — which is set to host its annual shareholder meeting in a Zurich stadium Tuesday — has drawn both praise and criticism in the prosperous country of about 8.5 million people.
Before the acquisition orchestrated on March 19, Credit Suisse was hemorrhaging deposits, shareholders were dumping its stock and creditors were rushing to seek repayment.
