ZENIT BANK DOES NOT GIVE UP TRYING TO BANKRUPT CREDIT SUISSE

A Russian credit institution controlled by Tatneft has announced its plans to appeal to the arbitration court. Zenit Bank wants to declare the Swiss bank Credit Suisse bankrupt. In a publication published on the Fedresurs portal, the bank has so far reported only on formal grounds (a debt of more than 300 thousand, unpaid for more than 3 months), allowing it to claim the defendant's insolvency in court.

Earlier, Zenit had already filed for bankruptcy in court, but the lawyers made a mistake with the indication of the defendant. Another legal entity, UBS AG Bank, was named in the lawsuit. The applicant considered that since a large Swiss bank had absorbed its competitor, it had become its legal successor.

During the consideration of the case, it turned out that both banks (UBS and Credit Suisse) are independent organizations, and the merger of parent structures in Switzerland does not give rise to their succession with each other. The Arbitration Court of the city of Moscow, which refused Zenit in December 2023 (case no. A40-166286/2023), recommended that the bank indicate the defendant with whom it had a relationship that served as the basis for litigation in court.

Earlier, Rusbankrot has already talked about the litigation between banks caused by international sanctions against Zenit. In the autumn of 2021, the Russian bank became a participant in syndicated lending to Intergrain S.A. The London branch of Credit Suisse was the agent for this transaction.

Until February 2022, Zenit received payments on it from the borrower, and then they stopped, despite their transfers to a Swiss bank. The latter informed Zenit that he would not be able to transfer funds due to the inclusion of a Russian credit institution in the sanctions list of the United States and Great Britain.

Over the past year, Zenit has already made several attempts to impose interim measures on the Swiss bank. After Intergrain transferred the $5.2 million intended for him to Credit Suisse in the spring of 2023, Zenit demanded their arrest and a ban on disposing of shares of Russian subsidiaries.

In November 2023, Credit Suisse's debt obligations to Zenit Bank in the amount of $13.6 million were recovered by the court. In August, Zenit managed to achieve a ban on the disposal of assets of subsidiaries of the Swiss bank in the Russian Federation.

At the same time, Zenit, which has been operating in Russia since 2005, is in 37th place in the Russian financial system (according to data for 2023). The financial group Credit Suisse Group AG was absorbed into Switzerland by UBS Group AG last year. The world's media reported this in the middle of last year. Prior to that, Credit Suisse shares collapsed to a very low level after the bank informed the public about the results of its work in previous years.