Credit Suisse to Buy Back $4.4B of Securities

Credit Suisse <CSGN.VX> said on Monday it planned to buy back up to 4 billion Swiss francs ($4.4 billion) in outstanding securities in a bid to comply with the new Swiss and Basel III global capital adequacy rules.

The tender was for public Tier 1 and Tier 2 instruments, Credit Suisse said.

"Credit Suisse continues to take a proactive approach to satisfy the new capital requirements, aimed at transitioning its capital structure well in advance of the required implementation dates," Chief Financial Officer David Mathers said in a statement.

As part of the Swiss government's tough new capital rules, flagship banks UBS <UBSN.VX> and Credit Suisse, whose balance sheets are several times the size of the Swiss economy, have begun to issue loss-absorbing forms of capital, including contingent convertible bonds, or CoCos, which turn into shares if the issuer hits trouble.

Credit Suisse has already issued 6 billion Swiss francs of CoCos to existing shareholders and a further $2 billion of CoCos publicly.