Credit Suisse paid 32 billion Swiss francs (33.2 billion euros) in bonuses during the last decade before its catastrophic takeover by its rival UBS, when the bank was in the red, according to the weekly SonntagsZeitung.
Two days before the first anniversary on Tuesday of the extremis rescue of Switzerland's second largest bank, the weekly relies on the report from UBS lawyers as part of the lawsuits launched by angry investors.
Thus, the bank, now absorbed by UBS, paid approximately 1 million Swiss francs each year to each of its risk managers over this period, regardless of the state of the bank's finances, says the weekly.
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Another constant was the payment of dividends by Credit Suisse.
They too were paid by touching the financial heart of the bank since there was no profit in total
,” he emphasizes.
It was only in the spring of 2023 that the federal authorities prohibited the bank from paying a dividend, as the managers had intended when the establishment was already at the heart of a storm that would ultimately destroy it. take away.
To finance these bonuses, Credit Suisse managers carried out financial arrangements to find the money used to finance the largesse to shareholders.
Credit Suisse first drew money from the subsidiaries, in particular the Swiss branch, which remained the crown jewels until the end.
Over the period 2016 - 2020, 3.4 billion francs were pumped from the bank's Swiss subsidiary to the holding company which paid dividends in the form of a short-term loan known as "Short term intercompany". debt”.