Sight deposits rise, indicating Credit Suisse took central bank liquidity

ZURICH (Reuters) – Credit Suisse took a hefty chunk of liquidity from the Swiss National Bank last week, sight deposit data published by the central bank indicated on Monday.

Total deposits held by banks overnight rose to 515.1 billion Swiss francs ($554.35 billion) from 510.8 billion francs last week, the data said.

The figure was an average of the level of the last 7 days to the end of Thursday so would not include the full extent of liquidity taken by Credit Suisse.

Most of the increase is likely to be due to the massive injection of liquidity into Credit Suisse the SNB offered the embattled lender last week.

All Swiss banks hold sight deposit accounts with the SNB, althought the central bank does not break down the total holdings by institution.

The Swiss National Bank did immediately repond to requests for comment.

Credit Suisse said on Thursday it intended to borrow up to 50 billion Swiss francs from the Swiss National Bank in what it called “decisive action” to boost its liquidity.

UBS agreed to buy Credit Suisse on Sunday for 3 billion francs, in a deal that includes 100 billion Swiss francs ($108 billion) in liquidity assistance from the SNB.

($1 = 0.9292 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by John Revill; editing by John O’Donnell)