Credit Suisse shares at 30-year low as State Street denied interest in its acquisition

The share of Credit Suisse Group is trading near a three-decade low, as State Street denied its interest in the acquisition of the Swiss bank.

Its share fell 6.3% to 6.18 Swiss francs and is close to its lowest level since 1989.

State Street, which declined to comment on the merger, later changed its tactics, saying it was not seeking any acquisitions or business combinations with Credit Suisse.

The Swiss bank’s share has fallen by half since its high in March last year, having suffered major losses as well as damage to its reputation, caused by problems with Greensill Finance and the collapse of the hedge fund Archegos.

The Swiss financial blog Inside Paradeplatz, on Wednesday caused a 15% rally in the share of Credit Suisse, from an intra-conference low.

But the rise did not last long as shares were hit on Thursday, as CEO Thomas Gottstein said he would not comment on the matter and dismissed the question as “stupid”.

In addition, analysts had expressed reservations about how the deal could proceed, challenging the logic of different business models and potentially strong regulatory barriers.

Credit Suisse’s difficulty in overcoming its problems and moving forward was very visible this week as the optimistic atmosphere given by one of its executives was quickly overshadowed by another profit warning just a day later.