Credit Suisse Fall: A Timeline of Events
October 2018 – Credit Suisse announces that it will be closing its cryptocurrency trading desk. This decision comes at a time when the financial institution is looking to cut costs and focus on other areas of their business.
November 2018 – The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) launches an investigation into possible breaches in anti-money laundering regulations by Credit Suisse’s trading activities related to cryptocurrencies.
January 2019 – FINMA concludes that there were no violations but imposes restrictions on how cryptocurrency transactions are conducted, including more stringent customer due diligence requirements, enhanced monitoring and reporting obligations as well as limits on client positions held with third parties such as exchanges or custodians.
March 2019 – An internal audit reveals irregularities in the way some accounts were handled by certain members of staff from the now defunct crypto division. As a result, four employees are dismissed for misconduct involving non-compliance with internal guidelines relating to risk management and know your customer procedures for clients involved in digital asset transactions within the bank’s own wallet services platform known as CSX1 .
June 2020 – After months of investigations into potential mismanagement surrounding the closure of its crypto division, FINMA finds no evidence that any laws have been broken but still issues warnings to banks regarding their handling of virtual currencies going forward. It also orders Credit Suisse pay back $77 million dollars’ worth of profits made through dealing activity during this period which was deemed “excessive” compared with industry standards
