The Swiss bank, in the grip of great difficulties, fell by nearly 30% on the stock market. Its largest shareholder, the Saudi central bank, rules out supporting the bank further.

 Credit Suisse sinks into crisis. The action of the second Swiss bank, in great difficulty for years, fell on Wednesday by nearly 30% on the Zurich Stock Exchange, dragging in its wake the entire European banking sector. Its first shareholder, the Saudi National Bank, which came to its rescue last fall, set fire to the powder. In an interview with the Bloomberg agency, the president of the Saudi central bank, Ammar al-Khudairy, declared that he was “absolutely not going” to support the bank by raising more capital. The Saudi National Bank had participated in a 4 billion Swiss franc capital raise in November as part of a major restructuring of Credit Suisse, necessary after the bank was rocked by several high-profile and very costly scandals in recent years.

For Credit Suisse, the case began in April 2016. At the time, after receiving reports in the context of mutual financial assistance for laundering tax evasion and illegal bank solicitation, the financial prosecutor’s office launched an investigation. Investigations revealed that 5,000 French clients had had a Credit Suisse account for many years, which had not been declared to the French tax authorities. The hidden assets amounted to 2 billion euros.

Last week, Credit Suisse had already paid a fine in the United States dating back to the past. Agreed to pay 495 million dollars to the American justice for a litigation concerning securities backed by mortgages.

 The current week will be decisive for the former flagship of Swiss finance, in the midst of a crisis. Thursday, it will present the last chance plan supposed to put it  back on the water after a series of scandals.