Credit Suisse Continues Operating in HongKong and Singapore

After UBS announced its acquisition of Credit Suisse Group AG​ (Credit Suisse), regulators in Singapore and Hong Kong separately issued statements on Sunday (March 19), saying Credit Suisse's local business in HK and Singapore will open as usual.

Credit Suisse's operations in Hong Kong comprise a branch supervised by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and two licensed corporations supervised by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). All of them will open for business today as usual. Customers can continue to access their deposits with the branch and trading services provided by Credit Suisse for Hong Kong's stock and derivatives markets, stated SFC in the announcement.

The regulator believed that the exposures of the local banking sector to Credit Suisse are insignificant.

SFC said: "The total assets of Credit Suisse AG, Hong Kong Branch amounted to about HK$100 billion, representing less than 0.5% of the total assets of the Hong Kong banking sector."

"In addition, Credit Suisse's licensed corporations are not among the top 10 active brokers in the stock market and the derivatives market. As of the end of February 2023, Credit Suisse was the 9th largest listed structured product issuer, accounting for about 4% of the total market in terms of market value of outstanding units. Their overall exposures to the Hong Kong market are not significant," the regulator added.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) also said on Sunday that Credit Suisse will continue operating in Singapore with no interruptions or restrictions.

MAS stated: "Customers of Credit Suisse will continue to have full access to their accounts and Credit Suisse' contracts with counterparties remain in force."

Regulators in HongKong and Singapore both said that they will monitor the financial markets very closely to ensure that their local financial system remains stable and financial markets continue to function in an orderly manner.