Karin Keller-Sutter says that the government acted in the best interest of the country when the banking crisis was at its worst in mid-March.
“Given the circumstances, we did the best we could to minimize the burden on the state and taxpayers,” she says in an interview to be published on Sunday.
Credit Suisse was bought after a weekend of intense negotiations at a heavily discounted price, after confidence in the bank rapidly declined. To get the deal through, the Swiss state pushed for debt write-downs and liquidity guarantees in the order of 109 billion Swiss francs, equivalent to 1,257 billion kroner.
“Without the authorities’ firm action, the result would have been bankruptcy for Credit Suisse on Monday morning, followed by a probable collapse of the Swiss economy,” she says.
Bringing Credit Suisse executives to justice for possible malpractice is “difficult and complex,” she says. She says the government must analyze what caused the crisis before implementing new potential regulations in the banking sector.