Credit Suisse said early Thursday that it would borrow up to $53.7 billion from Switzerland’s central bank to support its business, as market contagion from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank deepens and global authorities look to avoid a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis. The troubled Swiss bank is much larger and more enmeshed in the global financial system than SVB and Signature Bank of New York.
Asian equities sold off, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and Japan’s bank-heavy Topix down 1.55 and 1.29 percent, respectively, as of about noon local time. The region’s largest financial institutions — with the exception of China’s state-owned behemoths — saw their stock fall. Investors flocked to safe-haven assets such as gold and government bonds. The Credit Suisse announcement helped limit a possible rout.
