One Third of Switzerland's GDP Cost to Rescue "Credit Suisse"

The Swiss government and central bank provided support to Credit Suisse and UBS, following their merger, amounting to approximately 260 billion Swiss francs (280 billion dollars), which is one third of the country's GDP, to protect Switzerland from global financial turmoil. Data from the Swiss central bank indicated on Monday that Credit Suisse has likely already benefited from the funding after merging with UBS, following the central bank's offer of a loan of around 100 billion Swiss francs as part of an emergency liquidity package. This loan is secured against default. The third tranche of support provided to Credit Suisse allows for the withdrawal of an additional 100 billion francs in funding through liquidity support, which is guaranteed by the Swiss government. Swiss Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter previously stated that the bankruptcy of Credit Suisse would have resulted in "massive collateral damage in the Swiss financial market, as well as the risk of the crisis spreading to UBS and other banks, and internationally." Swiss authorities had announced the approval of UBS's acquisition of its rival Credit Suisse in a strong merger aimed at avoiding further disruptions in the global banking sector.