Credit Suisse and UBS shares plunge

UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher (right) with Credit Suisse Chairman Axel Lehmann. Pic/AFP

Shares of Credit Suisse plunged 63% in early trading Monday after the announcement that banking giant UBS would buy its troubled rival for almost $3.25 billion in a deal orchestrated by regulators to stave off further market-shaking turmoil in the global banking system. UBS shares were down 14% in early trading on the Swiss stock exchange.

Swiss authorities urged UBS to take over its smaller rival after a plan for Credit Suisse to borrow up to 50 billion francs ($54 billion) failed to reassure investors and the bank's customers. Shares of Credit Suisse and other banks plunged after the failure of two banks in the U.S. raised questions about other potentially shaky global financial institutions. Credit Suisse is among 30 financial institutions known as globally systemically important banks, and authorities worried about the fallout if it were to fail.

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The deal was "one of great breadth for the stability of international finance," Swiss President Alain Berset said as he announced it Sunday night. "An uncontrolled collapse of Credit Suisse would lead to incalculable consequences for the country and the international financial system." Switzerland's executive branch, a seven-member governing body that includes Berset, passed an emergency ordinance allowing the merger to go through without shareholder approval.

Rescue of Signature bank

New York Community Bank has agreed to buy a significant chunk of the failed Signature Bank in a $2.7 billion deal, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said late Sunday. The 40 branches of Signature Bank will become Flagstar Bank, starting Monday. Flagstar is one of New York Community Bank's subsidiaries. The deal will include the purchase of $38.4 billion in Signature Bank's assets.

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