Metals traders in Switzerland are feeling the brunt of a pullback from trade financing activities by banker Credit Suisse, after a 2018 deal turned sour and left the bank less keen to be exposed to the high-risk, low-margin commodities business.
The Zurich-based bank is a principal supplier of financing to Switzerland's commodities trading community, from crude oil to copper concentrates to aluminium billets.But since it entered a loss-making deal to finance energy products last year, Credit Suisse has scaled back its exposure to the commodities industry. This has left several metal merchants facing a shortage of credit, according to sources with direct knowledge but who asked to remain anonymous.The bank said that its Corporate & Institutional Clients division recorded a provision for credit losses in the fourth quarter of 2018 of 30 million Swiss francs ($30.03 million), compared with 18 million Swiss francs in the third quarter."[The fourth...