Swiss banks lost more than a quarter of their deposits last year as customers withdrew some USD 1.21 trillion amid the global financial crisis, heavy losses at UBS AG and Credit Suisse Group, and ongoing investigations into the offshore banking industry.
Swiss banks lost more than a quarter of their deposits last year as customers withdrew some USD 1.21 trillion amid the global financial crisis, heavy losses at UBS AG and Credit Suisse Group, and ongoing investigations into the offshore banking industry.
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Figures released by the Swiss National Bank yesterday showed deposits fell 27 percent to 3.82 trillion francs their lowest since August 2005.
Foreign customers took out 882 billion francs more than they put in, while domestic net withdrawals reached 531 billion francs, according to the SNB's monthly statistical bulletin.
Foreign private customers withdrew the highest proportion of their money 36 percent or 371 billion francs leaving only 671 billion in Swiss vaults. That is the lowest amount deposited by foreign private customers since the end of 1998.
Deposits by foreign institutional customers dropped 23 percent, or about 417 billion francs, to 1,386 billion francs.
Domestic private customers withdrew 28 percent of their deposits, leaving 417 billion francs. The report didn't break the figures down by institution, but Switzerland's two flagship banks have both said their customers withdrew billions of francs last year.
UBS said net withdrawals reached 226 billion francs in 2008, compared with inflows of 140.6 billion francs the previous year.
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