Mixed fortunes for Swiss banks

UBS announced it would take a US$500 million stake in Bank of China (BOC) on the day its rival Swiss bank Credit Suisse Group saw a proposed US$500 million investment in China Construction Bank (CCB) scrapped, according to media reports. UBS, the world's sixth-largest bank by market value, was widely expected to secure a deal with BOC, having already been appointed alongside Goldman Sachs to underwrite the Chinese bank's IPO, scheduled for the first half of next year. The fall-through in Credit Suisse's arrangement with CCB has been put down due to a technicality related to the Chinese lender's reluctance to delay its US$7.7 billion IPO. To invest in CCB, the Swiss Bank needs to obtain a waiver, because it is also underwriting CCB's offering. The process was seen as being likely to delay CCB's IPO.