The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has criticised Credit Suisse for failing to handle the business associated with now collapsed financier Lex Greensill and his companies.
The move comes after FINMA closed its two-year long probe against Credit Suisse in connection with the Greensill funds, which collapsed in March 2021.
Those funds were allocated to qualified investors and their risk profile was categorised as low in the client file.
Clients had invested approximately $10bn in these funds at the time of their sudden closure.
In its investigation, the Swiss watchdog found that Credit Suisse ‘seriously breached’ the Swiss supervisory law while handling the Greensill funds.
In a statement, FINMA said: “In its proceedings, FINMA concluded that Credit Suisse Group seriously breached its supervisory duty to adequately identify, limit and monitor risks in the context of the business relationship with Lex Greensill over a period of years.
“FINMA also found serious deficiencies in the bank’s organisational structures during the period under investigation.
“Furthermore, it did not sufficiently fulfil its supervisory duties as an asset manager. FINMA thus concludes that there has been a serious breach of Swiss supervisory law.”
FINMA has directed Credit Suisse to analyse its business relationships as per risks and take other measures to prevent such incidents in future.
Credit Suisse has also taken up several organisational measures in accordance with own enquiry into the case.
In September last year, the bank reportedly agreed to pay $32.5m as a preliminary settlement to end a lawsuit over the collapse of firms like Greensill Capital.
