Swiss Hit With 120 Lawsuits Over Credit Suisse AT1 Bond Wipeout

(Bloomberg) -- Six weeks since the deal to rescue Credit Suisse Group AG was rushed through, at least 120 claims have been filed against the Swiss banking watchdog's decision to wipe out about $18 billion worth of its high-risk bonds as part of the deal. 

As of May 2, the claims represent around 1,300 individual bondholders, according to a spokesman for the Swiss Federal Administrative Court. Claimants focused on a notional deadline to file of May 3.

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Created after the 2008 financial crisis, AT1s are the lowest rung of bank debt, producing juicy returns in good times but taking the first hit when a bank runs into trouble. The risk of a write down to zero was included in the fine print of the Credit Suisse AT1 brochure. 

Angry bondholders argued the Swiss government's decision to enact emergency legislation on March 19 that Finma then invoked hours later was an unfair and disproportional move. To put shareholders before bondholders runs contrary to the conventions of insolvency proceedings, lawyers for the claimants argue. 

Finma declined to comment on the filings, pointing to its published position on the writedown, and explaining that it was part of a plan that was the least bad option after a resolution of Credit Suisse or temporary nationalization were both rejected. 

While the fundamental goal of all these investors is to recoup their investment, a twin aim of their claims is to obtain a copy of the written decision underlying Finma's writedown that has been tightly held. For now, it's contents is known only to Finma, the Swiss government, Credit Suisse and UBS. 

The court will decide which of the many cases best encompasses the issues at stake and that will become a test case, and the other claims will be evaluated based on that one, the court spokesman said.

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