<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Credit Suisse said on Thursday that it will borrow up to 50bn francs ($54bn; £44.5bn) from the Swiss central bank to shore up its finances.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The lender said it was "taking decisive action to pre-emptively strengthen its liquidity".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Regulators had said they were ready to step in to help the troubled banking giant if necessary.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Fears of weakness at such a big international player has intensified fears about a broader bank crisis.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Problems in the sector surfaced in the US last week with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the country's 16th-largest bank, followed two days later by the collapse of Signature Bank</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Credit Suisse shares plunged by 24% to a record low on Wednesday after it said it had found "weakness" in its financial reporting.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This prompted major investor the Saudi National Bank to say it would not inject further funds into the Swiss lender.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The worries spread across financial markets with all major indexes falling sharply.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The problems in Credit Suisse once more raise the question whether this is the beginning of a global crisis or just another 'idiosyncratic' case," wrote Andrew Kenningham of Capital Economics.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Credit Suisse said its borrowing measures "demonstrate decisive action to strengthen Credit Suisse as we continue our strategic transformation to deliver value to our clients and other stakeholders".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"My team and I are resolved to move forward rapidly to deliver a simpler and more focused bank built around client needs," Credit Suisse's chief executive Ulrich Koerner said in a statement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Swiss National Bank, which is Switzerland's central bank, and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority sought to calm investor fears, saying they were ready to help Credit Suisse if necessary.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Strict rules apply to Swiss financial institutions to "ensure their stability" and Credit Suisse meets the requirements for banks considered systemically important, the regulators said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"There are no indications of a direct risk of contagion for Swiss institutions due to the current turmoil in the US banking market," they said in a joint statement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The BBC understands that the Bank of England has been in touch with Credit Suisse and the Swiss authorities to monitor the situation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Credit Suisse, founded in 1856, has faced a string of scandals in recent years, including money laundering charges and other issues.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It lost money in 2021 and again in 2022 - its worst year since the financial crisis of 2008 - and has warned it does not expect to be profitable until 2024.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Shares in the firm had already been severely hit before this week - their value falling by roughly two-thirds last year - as customers pulled funds.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The bank's disclosure on Tuesday of "material weakness" in its financial reporting controls renewed investor concerns.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">These were intensified when the chairman of the Saudi National Bank, Credit Suisse's largest shareholder, said it would not buy more shares in the Swiss bank on regulatory grounds.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At that time, Credit Suisse insisted its financial position was not a concern. But shares in the lender ended Wednesday down 24%, as other banks rushed to reduce their exposure to the firm and prime ministers in Spain and France spoke out in an attempt to ease fears.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This comes after Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) - which specialised in lending to technology companies - was shut down on Friday by US regulators in what was the largest failure of a US bank since 2008. SVB's UK arm was snapped up for £1 by HSBC.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the wake of the SVB collapse, New York-based Signature Bank also went bust, with the US regulators guaranteeing all deposits at both.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, fears have persisted that other banks could face similar troubles, and trading in bank shares has been volatile this week.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Stoxx Europe banking share index tumbled 7% on Wednesday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the US, shares in both small and large banks were hit, helping to push the Dow down almost 0.9%, while the S&amp;P 500 fell 0.7%</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The UK's FTSE 100 fell by 3.8% or 293 points - the biggest one-day drop since the early days of the pandemic in 2020.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"This banking crisis came from America. And now people are watching how the whole thing could also cause problems in Europe," said Robert Halver, head of capital markets at Germany's Baader Bank.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"If a bank has had even the remotest problem in the past, if major investors say we don't want to invest any more and don't want to let new money flow into this bank, then of course a story is being told where many investors say we want to get out." BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>