Credit Suisse Bondholders Sue Swiss Officials

Investors representing more than 4.5 billion Swiss francs ($5 billion) of Credit Suisse bonds have sued the Swiss financial regulator over its decision to wipe out their investments during last month’s emergency government-orchestrated takeover, Reuters reported.

Photo Insert: It is the first major lawsuit in the public domain to be filed over Switzerland’s decision to wipe out around $18 billion of Credit Suisse’s “additional tier one” (AT1) debt during the 3 billion Swiss franc ($3.4 billion) all-share rescue deal last month.

Law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, which represents the bondholders, said the move was the first in a series of steps to seek redress for clients it said had been unlawfully deprived of their property rights during the takeover of Credit Suisse by bigger rival UBS.

It is the first major lawsuit in the public domain to be filed over Switzerland’s decision to wipe out around $18 billion of Credit Suisse’s “additional tier one” (AT1) debt during the 3 billion Swiss franc ($3.4 billion) all-share rescue deal last month, which stunned markets and alerted litigators.

The appeal against FINMA, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, which ordered the write-down, was filed on April 18 in the Federal Administrative Court in St. Gallen, Northeast Switzerland.

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