Credit Suisse was ‘warned’ about Greensill three years before firm collapsed
GuardianMAY 30
Report: Credit Suisse Ignored Early Warnings About Greensill Partnership
Above: Greensill Capital UK Ltd. CEO Lex Greensill in London, U.K., on June 9, 2025. Image copyright: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg/Getty Images
The Spin
Narrative A
Credit Suisse's $440 million lawsuit against SoftBank exposes Greensill's corrupt, opaque loan schemes, hiding risky claims. That said, Credit Suisse is also at fault, as Finma found it clearly breached risk oversight and ignored years of warnings. The senior manager involved should have nipped this in the bud before it turned into a $10 billion fund collapse.
Narrative B
Credit Suisse's lawsuit against SoftBank and Greensill's collapse reveal not just their own corruption, but the rotten banking system as a whole. While Finma exposed Credit Suisse's failure to protect people's money, it also proved complete systemic rot, as shown by the bank's $510 million fine for hiding $4 billion offshore. U.S. Security and Exchange Committee waivers for UBS prove big banks escape justice, protected by their size and influence.