Credit Suisse Group AG (French pronunciation: [kʁe.di sɥis], lit. 'Swiss Credit') is a global investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland as a standalone firm but now a subsidiary of UBS. According to UBS, eventually Credit Suisse will be fully integrated into UBS but while the integration is not complete both banks are operating separately. Headquartered in Zürich, as a standalone firm it maintained offices in all major financial centers around the world and provided services in investment banking, private banking, asset management, and shared services. It was known for strict bank–client confidentiality and banking secrecy. The Financial Stability Board considered it to be a global systemically important bank. Credit Suisse was also a primary dealer and Forex counterparty of the Federal Reserve in the United States.
Credit Suisse was founded in 1856 to fund the development of Switzerland's rail system. It issued loans that helped create Switzerland's electrical grid and the European rail system. In the 1900s, it began shifting to retail banking in response to the elevation of the middle class and competition from fellow Swiss banks UBS and Julius Bär. Credit Suisse partnered with First Boston in 1978 before buying a controlling share of the bank in 1988. From 1990 to 2000, the company purchased institutions such as Winterthur Group, Swiss Volksbank, Swiss American Securities Inc. (SASI), and Bank Leu.
The company was one of the least affected banks during the global financial crisis, but afterwards began shrinking its investment business, executing layoffs and cutting costs. The bank was at the center of multiple international investigations for tax avoidance (such as the famous "Suisse Secrets" scandal) which culminated in a guilty plea and the forfeiture of US$2.6 billion in fines from 2008 to 2012. By the end of 2022, Credit Suisse had approximately CHF 1.3 trillion in assets under management.
On 19 March 2023, following negotiations with the Swiss government, UBS announced its intent to acquire Credit Suisse for $3.25 billion (CHF 3 billion) in order to prevent the bank's collapse. UBS completed the acquisition in June 2023.
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