Credit Suisse has spent the past few days battling social media rumours about the strength of its balance sheet and trying to convince investors and clients that its plummeting share price and spiking credit default swaps are not telling the true story of the bank’s health.
At the centre of the storm is a simple question that analysts and market commentators have been asking ever since Credit Suisse announced over the summer that it would strip back its investment bank and cut out SFr1.5bn of costs: How big will the capital hole actually be?
Last month analysts at Deutsche Bank estimated the drastic moves would leave the Swiss lender needing to find an additional SFr4bn due to restructuring costs, the need to grow other business lines and regulatory pressure to strengthen its capital ratios.