The Swiss bank is weighing how public to go with the findings of its own review of the $10.1 billion supply chain fund blow-up, as it struggles to appease clients.
Zurich-based Credit Suisse hasn't yet decided whether it will disclose to investors and the public how it stumbled over Greensill by publishing in full a report into the issue, the «Financial Times» (behind paywall) reported on Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The report comes alongside the appearance of Chairman António Horta-Osório at a summit held by the outlet.
Greensill is one of two major blow-ups at the Swiss bank this year, besides more than $5 billion in losses on Archegos – by far Wall Street's worst. The crisis-engulfed lender, which has never reached its target of return on equity set four years ago, is retooling its bonus system and merging its private bank into one unit, from three.
The bank two months ago flagged a fourth-quarter loss due to other scandals. In July, Credit Suisse released an excoriating report over how it bumbled through Archegos' unwinding in March.
Credit Suisse As Too Trusting
The primary findings of the Greensill report, which the bank originally pledged to disclose this year, found Credit Suisse's asset managers «were too trusting of the supply-chain finance company,» the «FT» reported. The Swiss bank also reportedly neglected to pay attention to where the Greensill funds were investing.
Greensill, whose insolvency was set into motion by Credit Suisse pulling the plug on the line of funds in March, is reverberating through business, finance, and politics. The Swiss bank has thus far returned nearly two-thirds of the total to the fund's investors, primarily wealthy clients of its private bank.
Slow To Acquiesce to «Sunflower»
Of the roughly 1,000 Greensill fund investors, less than half have agreed to a special offer such as concessions on fees that is dubbed «Project Sunflower», the «FT» reported. Credit Suisse is pulling out all the stops to retrieve $2.3 billion owed by three troublesome creditors: Katerra, Bluestone, and Sanjeev Gupta's GFG group of companies.
This includes filing insurance claims as well as demands of Greensill's bank in Germany and its now-defunct U.K. supply chain finance arm. The «Financial Times» (behind paywall) last week reported that Lloyds, the bank Horta-Osório ran until just before arriving at Credit Suisse seven months ago, did considerable business with Greensill under his leadership.
