Credit Suisse asks investors to ‘permanently erase’ documents linked to oligarch loans
Credit Suisse has issued a legal request to investors asking them to “destroy and permanently erase” documents relating to its clients’ private jets and yachts, as it looks to prevent leaks of its dealings with now-sanctioned Russian oligarchs, according to reports.
Investors and hedge funds received letters from the bank this week urging them to destroy documents relating to a securitisation of loans backed by “jets, yachts, real estate and/or financial assets”, sources told the Financial Times.
The letter told investors to “destroy and permanently erase” any information that the firm previously provided with details of the loans, after the FT reported last month that the bank had offloaded risks relating to $2bn of loans to a group of hedge funds.
Credit Suisse managed to close the jet and yacht securitisation deal at the end of last year by offering an increased interest rate of 11 per cent, the FT reported, which tempted in a number of hedge funds to the deal.
The letter from Credit Suisse comes after the bank was hit last month by a major leak of documents detailing the accounts of 30,000 clients which lifted the lid on the intensely secret world of Swiss banking.
Switzerland said it would adopt western sanctions on Russian companies and freeze their assets this week in a major departure from its long tradition of neutrality.
Finance Minister Ueli Maurer said Switzerland’s financial centre could easily absorb the blow of sanctions.
“It is often bandied about that Russia is the most important financial centre for Switzerland, but it is not, it is rather a minor player,” Maurer said.