html

9.1.23

Match report: Man City 4 Chelsea 0 - ENOUGH IS ENOUGH Chelsea is a big team

Chelsea exited a second domestic cup competition at the hands of Man City this season with the damage done in 15 first-half minutes. As in the Carabao Cup tie in November, a Riyad Mahrez free-kick broke the deadlock, on this occasion midway through the first half. It was 2-0 in no time when Julian Alvarez converted a penalty awarded after a VAR check for handball against Kai Havertz. Having been undone by a pair of set-pieces, a fluent move cut us open and produced a third goal for the champions before the break, Phil Foden the scorer. The second half was a closer contest but we couldn’t muster a shot on target, and City had the final word through another penalty, this one converted by Mahrez late on. The selection Graham Potter handed 19-year-old Bashir Humphreys his professional debut. He lined up next to Kalidou Koulibaly in central defence. The other positive for Potter pre-match was that he was able to welcome Mason Mount back into the side. They were two of six fresh faces. Trevoh Chalobah and Lewis Hall also started in defence, the latter having made his full debut at this stadium in the Carabao Cup tie prior to the World Cup. Ahead of them, Jorginho returned in midfield to partner Mateo Kovacic. However, Christian Pulisic and Raheem Sterling did not make the matchday squad having gone off injured early in Thursday’s league meeting. With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang also not involved, in came Hakim Ziyech and Connor Gallagher. The bench included new signings Benoit Badiashile and David Datro Fofana, the latter coming on for the second half. Remembering Luca The Chelsea players warmed up in shirts with the number nine on the back in honour of Gianluca Vialli, who so sadly passed away on Friday. Our former striker and manager was also celebrated with a minute’s applause before kick-off, and the 7500-strong away support chanted Vialli’s name with extra vigour. As on Thursday, Chelsea started confidently. We beat City’s press on a couple of occasions early on to nearly fashion openings, although it was Kepa who was called into action first, smothering a low Mahrez cross. The Spaniard then got a slight touch on Cole Palmer’s shot when we had allowed the young City midfielder to break beyond our backline. Havertz’s touch eluded him when we tried to do likewise having impressively played out from the back. Mahrez again Midway through the first half, though, lightening struck twice. Not only did Mahrez win Thursday’s game, he had opened the scoring with a free-kick in the Carabao Cup tie here. The Algerian repeated the trick from further out this time, bending his strike into the top corner.

30.11.22

Credit Suisse Keeps Sinking The second Swiss bank revives fears about its solvency yet again. - thestreet.com

The end of 2022 could be a nightmare for Credit Suisse. The second largest Swiss bank is once again in the line of fire, with the resurgence of fears and questions about its solvency. The bank's shares fell on November 29 to a new life-to-date low below 3 Swiss francs, to 2.9080 Swiss francs. Since the start of the year, Credit Suisse shares have lost more than 67% of their value. Market capitalization is now only 9.05 billion Swiss francs. This last figure takes into account the issue of a first batch of new shares. The data show that Credit Suisse is no more than a shadow of what it once was, the European banking flagship that made Switzerland proud. It’s just a giant with feet of clay. The continued decline of the firm, plagued by repeated scandals, shows that the strategic plan presented on October 27 to try to revive Credit Suisse is struggling to convince investors. They no longer hide fears that the bank is facing a short-term liquidity crisis. Massive Outflows Credit Suisse's (CS) - Get Free Report five-year credit default swaps (CDs), a form of insurance for bondholders, hit a new record high of 403 basis points, according to data from S&P Market Intelligence. This means that investors holding the bank's debt have to pay a lot more to insure themselves for the event that Credit Suisse cannot repay them. When the cost of CDSs rises sharply, it suggests that investors clearly doubt that the company will be able to honor its debts. The new fears were reignited on Nov. 23, after the bank warned that it would post a heavy loss in the fourth quarter. This deficit is due to massive outflows of money from customers, particularly in the asset management division, seen as the centerpiece of the new Credit Suisse. There are also massive withdrawals from Swiss customers in retail banking. "Credit Suisse would expect the investment bank and the group to report a substantial loss before taxes in the fourth quarter 2022, of up to CHF ~1.5 billion for the group," or $1.6 billion, it said in a press release. "The group’s actual results will depend on a number of factors including the investment bank’s performance for the remainder of the quarter, the continued exit of non-core positions, any goodwill impairments, and the outcome of certain other actions, including potential real estate sales." The investment bank has been impacted by the substantial industry-wide slowdown in capital markets and reduced activity in the sales & trading businesses, exacerbating normal seasonal declines, and the group’s relative underperformance, Credit Suisse explained. Client activity remains subdued in wealth management, and the bank expects these market conditions to continue in the coming months. However, there is worse: the firm experienced deposit and net asset outflows in the first two weeks of October at levels that "substantially" exceeded the rates incurred in the third quarter. As of November 11, net asset outflows were approximately 6% of assets under management at the end of the third quarter. "These outflows have led the bank to partially utilize liquidity buffers at the group and legal entity level" causing the bank to fall "below certain legal entity-level regulatory requirements," Credit Suisse said. 'Demotivation' This warning sounded the alarm with investors, who saw it as a harbinger of very bad news to come. "In short, Credit Suisse is starting to act like a bank that’s about to go under,” analyst Tom Essaye of the Sevens Report said in a recent note. The mistakes of the investment bank have plunged Credit Suisse into numerous successive scandals in recent years, reviving speculation about a bankruptcy or a merger with its rival UBS. Two scandals occurred almost one after the other in 2021, and caused losses of several billion dollars for the bank. The first was the bankruptcy of British company Greensill and the second was the failure of family office Archegos Capital Management. Another sign of the nervousness and pessimism surrounding Credit Suisse: investors dumped rights to subscribe to new shares in the firm. The subscription rights tumbled 22% to 0.112 on the second day of trading on the Swiss bourse on November 29, according to Reuters. The capital increase of 4 billion Swiss francs ($4.2 billion) was approved on November 23 by the shareholders and aims to finance the restructuring of Credit Suisse. Credit Suisse's revamp is considered an emergency plan to clear up uncertainty about its future. The firm wants to cut 9,000 jobs by 2025, including just over 2,700, or 5% of the workforce, by December, 31.Overall, Credit Suisse wants to reduce its cost base by 14.5 billion Swiss francs in three years. It also plans to break up the investment bank into three parts and sell a "significant portion" of its Securitized Products Group business. The difficult year has had an impact on employee morale, Andre Helfenstein, the head of the bank’s Swiss unit, said in a recent interview with Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung. "I wouldn't say demotivation, but rather a certain level of fatigue and sometimes frustration," Helfenstein said.

29.11.22

Credit Suisse Shares Dip to All-time Low - finews.com

Credit Suisse: The Saudis are now Aboard PDF Rights trading for Credit Suisse shares started today and, as expected, the price headed lower. But the discount is significantly greater than anticipated. On Friday, Credit Suisse shares closed at 3.318 francs. Today, subscription rights trading started and the price was down significantly. During intraday trading shares traded at a low of 2.955 francs, a drop of almost 11 percent and a new all-time low. Prices recovered somewhat to over 3 francs again to 3.072 francs, but are still down around 7.3 percent since the start of trading. Two Shares for Seven Rights That the share price will be reduced by the value of the subscription rights, traded separately on the SIX exchange starting today, was to be expected. However, while the rights issued 1 for 1 are currently valued at 0.156 Swiss francs, the share discount amounts to 0.259 Swiss francs. In the course of the second capital increase, shareholders received one subscription right per share held. For seven of these rights, they can purchase two Credit Suisse shares for 2.52 francs. In purely operational terms, the capital increase is expected to net Credit Suisse around 4 billion francs of fresh capital and has gone off like clockwork, yet the share price itself is not finding any support.

28.11.22

Credit Suisse Swiss Head Seeks to Calm Outflow Concerns- finews.com

Credit Suisse is Bleeding Managed Assets Credit Suisse Shareholders Greenlight Capital Raise The head of Credit Suisse's Swiss business gave an interview on Sunday with an influential Swiss newspaper seeking to allay concerns about money outflows at the troubled bank. After Credit Suisse shares plunged nearly seven percent to an all-time low of 3.32 francs on Friday, André Helfenstein, CEO of its Swiss Business sought to exude calm and allay fears about money outflows in the Swiss unit in an interview with the «Sonntagszeitung» (paywall, in German). «We lost a total of 1 percent of our asset base,» Helfenstein specified, adding that few Credit Suisse clients closed their accounts after the money was withdrawn. In addition to the money outflows, job cuts are a hot topic of conversation around the bank. Helfenstein said that at the Swiss unit, a reduction in headcount will come primarily from natural attrition. No Split-up of the Bank He also rejected rumors the bank would be separated into Swiss and international units or that the private client business and asset management might be sold. The current structure of the Swiss Bank has the decisive advantage of offering internationally focused Swiss clients the option of drawing on the expertise and services of global asset management and investment banking teams. Inappropriate Moralizing Helfenstein understood concerns about «cultural consistency» at the institution, of which questions were raised following Saudi National Bank becoming a new major shareholder. «However, we have to be careful with our supposed moral high ground.» Much of the economy is based on oil, he said, and why prosperity in this country as a whole is closely tied to those countries. Up a Year's Pay Helfenstein also addressed job cuts which are part of the restructuring Credit Suisse is currently undergoing. The only factor in the announced cutback of 2,000 jobs in Switzerland is the type of job, not the age. Cuts would come less in the business with clients in asset management, retail banking, institutional business, or with corporate clients. The bank, meanwhile, must be able to adapt to changes in the industry, for example, to cope with advancing digitalization. Exploiting Fluctuation Helfenstein added the job cuts will be made as far as possible through natural attrition, and employees affected would receive their salaries for seven to twelve months. Another option is early retirement which is possible from the age of 58.