Credit Suisse bosses were advised against collaborating with Lex Greensill’s company three years prior to the failure of Greensill Capital, which had hired ex-UK prime minister David Cameron as an advisor. The warning against partnering with Greensill came from anonymous messages received as early as 2018, which questioned the Swiss bank’s relationship with Greensill, according to a Swiss regulator Finma report. Senior Credit Suisse managers were warned about the risks of their financial ties to Greensill, whose subsequent collapse in 2021 contributed to Credit Suisse’s own collapse in March 2023.
The anonymous messages raised concerns over Credit Suisse’s strategy of packaging Greensill’s loans into funds worth $10 billion ($7.4 billion) for affluent clients. The messages also noted that a significant portion of the loans was made to companies within Sanjeev Gupta’s struggling steel empire. Additionally, the collapse of another Greensill-backed fund by rival asset manager GAM was cited as a strong warning.
One senior manager at Credit Suisse forwarded the 2018 tipoff to Lex Greensill, suggesting that there was a need to reassess the company’s communication strategy. Greensill Capital offered corporate loans and marketed its services as a tech firm with high-profile advisors. Despite concerns, the bank’s bosses continued to receive warnings about their dealings with Greensill as late as June 2019. The eventual collapse of Greensill in March 2021 was triggered by insurers’ refusal to renew contracts backing its loans and the firm’s exposure to Gupta’s metals empire. This led to financial and political scandals.
The warnings also led Credit Suisse to shut down its $10 billion Greensill-backed funds, causing heavy financial losses for its wealthy customers and contributing to a loss of confidence in Credit Suisse. The Swiss regulator, Finma, conducted an almost two-year investigation into the bank’s relationship with Greensill. The regulator concluded that Credit Suisse “seriously breached its supervisory obligations” and imposed additional oversight on senior managers and key business relationships. The investigation’s findings were released in February 2023, and the 167-year-old bank ultimately collapsed a month later, prompting its emergency rescue by rival UBS.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jun/13/credit-suisse-was-warned-about-greensill-three-years-before-firm-collapsed
