Business

Credit Suisse says lost $68 billion in assets last quarter

Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) said on Monday that 61 billion Swiss francs ($68 billion) in assets left the bank in the first quarter and that outflows were continuing, underscoring the challenge faced by UBS Group AG (UBSG.S) in rescuing its rival.

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It also said customer deposits declined by 67 billion francs in the quarter and that there had been significant non-renewals of maturing time deposits.

Most of the asset outflows were from its wealth management division and occurred across all regions.

“These outflows have moderated but have not yet reversed as of April 24, 2023,” Credit Suisse said.

Shares in both UBS and Credit Suisse were up slightly in early trade, with some analysts noting the outflows were not as bad as feared.

But others said the magnitude was alarming.

Credit Suisse’s ability to generate revenue appeared to be so damaged that “the deal could well remain a drag on UBS operating results unless a deeper restructuring plan is announced,” London-based analyst Thomas Hallett at KBW said in a note to clients.

Assets managed by the flagship wealth management division dropped to 502.5 billion francs at the end of March, compared to 707 billion reported for the same period last year.

The 167-year-old bank reported results for what is likely to be the last time, as its state-engineered marriage with UBS is expected to be completed soon.

Clients rapidly started pulling money from scandal-plagued Credit Suisse after it was ensnared in market turmoil unleashed by the collapse of US lenders Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

This led Swiss authorities to scramble together a rescue package which saw UBS agree to take over Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs in stock and assume up to 5 billion francs in losses. It also included 200 billion francs in state financial guarantees.

Credit Suisse said that at the end of the first quarter, it had 108 billion Swiss francs of net borrowings under these facilities after paying back 60 billion. Since then, it has paid back another 10 billion.

The bank also said it had mutually agreed to terminate the planned $175 million acquisition of Michael Klein’s investment banking business, which it had intended to spin off together with its own investment banking arm.

UBS has said it plans to scale back Credit Suisse’s investment bank.

Credit Suisse’s future

A gutting of assets also took place in the bank’s Swiss arm, which saw private clients pull 6.9 billion francs as a result of waning trust, raising questions over the future of the Credit Suisse brand.

The “results show the challenged position CS’s franchise is in and the work ahead for UBS taking CS over,” analysts at RBC Capital Markets said in a note to clients.

At UBS’s annual general meeting held this month, the bank’s Vice Chairman Lukas Gaehwiler said Credit Suisse would continue to operate under its own name in Switzerland for the foreseeable future.

Amid growing pressure within Switzerland for Credit Suisse’s domestic business to be spun off, Gaehwiler said UBS had not yet decided what it would do and that “all options are on the table”.

UBS has also yet to make any announcements on how many Credit Suisse jobs will be cut, but following the takeover, UBS executives said they expect the deal to bring $8 billion in cost reductions by 2027, $6 billion of which would come from cutting the number of full time employees across the firms’ operations.

UBS said on Monday that Christian Bluhm – whose departure had been previously flagged – will continue as its chief risk officer for the “foreseeable future” to work on the takeover of Credit Suisse.

Credit Suisse managers could face disciplinary action, Swiss regulator says

Switzerland scraps bonuses of Credit Suisse execs

Business

Almarai signs multiple agreements to localize jobs through training and recruitment programs

Almarai signed a cooperation memorandum with the Food Industries Polytechnic, the
Transport General Authority, and the Saudi Logistics Academy to localize jobs in the
food and beverages sector through training and rehabilitation programs ending in
employment. This came within the first international conference on the labor market,
organized by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development on 13 – 14
December 2023 at the King Abdulaziz Convention Center in Riyadh.

‘These agreements are part of Almarai’s corporate program for the social responsibility
to achieve localization in the food industry sector, which is one of the top priorities of the
comprehensive strategic plans in Almarai, especially since the company is one of the
largest working environments in the kingdom, with more than 9,000 Saudi employees,
including more than 900 Saudi female employees.”Fahad Aldrees, Chief Human
Resources Officer of Almarai, said.

He added that the agreements signed to train and qualify young people are part of the
integrated initiatives and training and rehabilitation programs for national human
resources in Almarai. He pointed out that the company provided about half a million
employee training hours during 2022, raising its retention rate to 90% during 2022.

It is worth mentioning that Almarai is the world’s largest vertically integrated dairy
company, and the largest food and beverage producer and distributor in the Middle
East. Almarai was ranked among LinkedIn’s top 15 Saudi companies for professional
career development for 2022.

Business

SEBA Bank rebrands to AMINA Bank and continues to write its success story

a fully licensed Swiss crypto bank, announced today its new brand identity: AMINA Bank AG. The group operates
globally from its regulated hubs in Zug, Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong, offering its clients traditional and crypto banking services.
SEBA Bank made history in 2019 by becoming one of the first FINMA-regulated institutions to provide crypto banking services. This rebrand marks a new chapter for the company, which has proudly been in operation for more than four years. AMINA Bank is inspired by the same trailblazing ambition to lead the way for its clients and to write its own future as a Swiss-
regulated crypto bank offering services to its traditional and crypto savvy clients around the globe. The name ‘AMINA’ stems from the term ‘transAMINAtion’, meaning transference of one compound to another. AMINA is a brand driven by perpetual change, bringing together the various ‘compounds’ of traditional, digital, and crypto banking to unlock new potential and
growth for our clients. This vision of change represents the transformation of our clients’ financial future. Franz Bergmueller, CEO of AMINA, said: “We are delighted to introduce the world to our new brand identity. While we say goodbye to the SEBA name, we remain forever proud of the achievements made by the group under the former brand. “Our brand signifies a new era in the company’s growth and strategy; we are a key player in crypto banking and are here to define the future of finance. With our client-focused approach, our years of traversing traditional and crypto finance, we offer a platform for investors to build
wealth safely and under the highest regulatory standards.” “We are grateful to be encouraged by our supportive and committed investors who have been very helpful, supporting the growth of the company. We thank our employees in all the regions
for their dedication and client focus. As we look forward to 2024, our ambition is to accelerate the growth of our strategic hubs in Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Abu Dhabi, and to continue our global expansion, building on all the successes we have laid down over the past years.” Current clients of AMINA Bank (formerly SEBA Bank) will be unaffected by the rebrand other than encountering the new name; all operations will be business as usual across the board. The branch office based in Abu Dhabi and the subsidiaries in Hong Kong and Singapore will subsequently apply for a name change to align with the head office in Zug.

Business

Uptime Appoints Mustapha Louni Chief Business Officer

Uptime Institute is pleased to announce the appointment of Mustapha Louni to the position of Chief Business Officer, a role specifically created to drive strategic leadership and client success. In this new role, Mr. Louni will assume responsibility for the global Uptime sales and marketing organizations and drive overall business value for all Uptime clients. He will retain his existing responsibilities overseeing operations in the Middle East, India, Africa, and the Asia Pacific regions. In this elevated capacity, Mr. Louni is poised to play a pivotal role in driving Uptime’s next phase of global expansion through strategic initiatives to enhance market awareness of the dramatically expanding global service lines and delivery capabilities of Uptime that uniquely support the global data center industry in its pursuit of ever higher performance through elevated availability, resiliency, sustainability, and cyber-security of digital infrastructure. Louni’s appointment renews and expands Uptime

Institute 39;s 30-year commitment to advancing excellence in the data center sector on a global scale. “Today we are experiencing the next phase of the one-time, planetary transformation from analog to digital. This unprecedented, once-in-a-generation growth in data center demand is primarily driven by continuing cloud adoption, the new promise of AI, and the demonstrable fact
that hybrid digital infrastructure is here to stay for the foreseeable future,” said Martin McCarthy, CEO, Uptime Institute. “These complex and nuanced market demands require a visionary talent like Mustapha Louni. He is someone who cannot only deftly manage specific aspects of the business but also remain ahead of accelerating changes and trends. He continues to earn client
trust and respect by timely delivery on demanding commitments while he also inspires and energizes colleagues and clients alike. I am delighted to announce Mr. Louni’s new position and know that he will continue to expand the impact that he has already brought to Uptime since his arrival.” In 2014, Mr. Louni joined the Uptime organization in the United Arab Emirates, leveraging his extensive experience from roles at Panduit and Schneider Electric in Paris and Dubai. As the company’s first commercial resource in the Middle East and Africa region, Mr. Louni played a pivotal role in expanding Uptime’s presence. Within a year, he successfully established what became and remains Uptime’s fastest growing regional office. Under his leadership, Uptime has
extended his impressive trajectory of growth in MEA to the Asia-Pacific regions, augmenting the Uptime workforce with dedicated team members spanning more than a dozen countries across these regions. A new Uptime office has been inaugurated in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) this year, further fortifying the company’s ability to meet its commitment to sustained
growth and excellence and serve clients in critical, accelerating markets for digital infrastructure.

Uptime Institute began development of its proprietary and now globally recognized Tier Standards and its Tier Certifications 30 years ago to ensure that the mission critical computing needs of all organizations could be met with confidence and understood by executive management. Since that time, Uptime Tier Certification as well as other Uptime offerings including assessments and awards in digital infrastructure for ensuring business performance in areas of management and operations, risk and resilience, sustainability, and more recently cyber- security have gained global adoption. Uptime’s expanding success is based on delivering a
unique business service that is based upon unparalleled engineering excellence and technical mastery, while remaining vendor independent and technology agnostic.