Credit Suisse stops pursuing new business in Russia, cuts exposure

ZURICH • Credit Suisse Group has stopped pursuing new business in Russia and is cutting its exposure to the country, following global peers in pulling back after the invasion of Ukraine.

The Swiss bank is helping its clients unwind their Russia exposure, according to an internal document seen by Bloomberg.

The bank added that it has moved roles out of the country and is assisting employees to relocate elsewhere.

A bank spokesman confirmed the content of the document.

Credit Suisse joins a growing list of lenders that are either pulling out of Russia altogether or paring back their businesses, in response to the ongoing military assault on its neighbour.

Chief executive officer Thomas Gottstein had said on March 15 that the bank has "a very well-managed risk management around the situation".

The Zurich-based bank said earlier this month that it had an exposure of 848 million Swiss francs (S$1.2 billion) to Russia as at the end of last year and about 125 employees there. About 4 per cent of assets in the wealth management unit were with Russian clients, the bank has said.

The lender is struggling to emerge from a series of scandals last year that prompted multibillion-dollar losses.

The bank said its net credit exposure includes derivatives and financing exposures in the investment bank, trade finance exposures in the Swiss Universal Bank and Lombard, and other loans in international wealth management. These exposures have been reduced since the end of last year.

Zurich-based rival UBS Group so far has not said what it will do with its Russia business. The bank announced earlier this month that it has about US$200 million (S$272 million) in exposure to Russian assets used as collateral in loans at its wealth unit.

Credit Suisse said on Monday that it is applying all sanctions, in particular those issued by the European Union, Britain, the United States and Switzerland.

The role of Switzerland as a place for Russia's wealthy to stash their money is coming under increased scrutiny, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticised the nation earlier this month.

The government in Bern said last week that it had received notification of some US$6 billion in assets held by sanctioned individuals.

Wealthy Russians with links to President Vladimir Putin have seen their assets frozen across the world, while other rich bank clients who borrowed against Russian assets have to come up with more collateral after those securities plunged in value.

Swiss private bank Julius Baer last week said it has exposure to a number of individuals "in the low single digits" who have been sanctioned since the invasion of Ukraine, and is not taking new business from clients resident in Russia.

BLOOMBERG