Credit Suisse loses USD440m UK lawsuit against SoftBank over Greensill collapse
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The news: Credit Suisse lost its USD440 million ($675.1 million) lawsuit against SoftBank on Wednesday, after London’s High Court held that SoftBank “did not orchestrate” the transactions at the centre of the case.
The context: The transactions were linked to the collapse of finance firm Greensill Capital, which forced Credit Suisse to close USD10 billion of funds linked to Greensill and, along with other scandals, led to the 2023 state-backed rescue of the 167-year-old Swiss bank by rival UBS Group.
UBS took on the case to pursued SoftBank in a trial held in London in June, which saw Greensill founder Lex Greensill give his first public testimony since his financing firm collapsed into administration in 2021.
The proceedings centred on the USD440 million that SoftBank provided to Greensill which had been earmarked to cover losses suffered by clients of Credit Suisse, which also had investments linked to Greensill. However, as Greensill’s liquidity issues grew the money was used for other purposes.
In his ruling, Lord Justice Miles wrote that SoftBank “reasonably assumed that the money had been used for the purpose for which it had been sought”.
“Today’s ruling fully vindicates SoftBank and confirms the allegations were simply a baseless attempt to redirect blame,” the Japanese group said. “SoftBank acted honestly, and this judgment sets the record straight.”
UBS said that it acknowledged the high court’s ruling “in this legacy matter”.
“The CS Fund is reviewing the judgment and evaluating next steps. We remain committed to taking all appropriate actions to maximise recovery for the benefit of all stakeholders,” the bank said.
The sources: High Court judgment, FT, Reuters, Bloomberg
