Credit Suisse closes representative office in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — The representative office of Zurich-based Credit Suisse AG has ceased operations in the Philippines, six years after its launch in June 2018, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.

“The Monetary Board, in its Resolution No. 709 dated June 20, noted the cessation of operations of Credit Suisse AG Representative Office, Philippines,” the central bank said via Circular No. 2024-035.

BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier issued the circular on July 8.

The representative office was located at Ayala Avenue corner Paseo de Roxas Avenue in Makati City.

In May, Credit Suisse and Switzerland’s biggest bank UBS announced that they have officially merged, with UBS as the surviving entity.

All assets, liabilities and contracts of Credit Suisse AG have been transferred to UBS AG as a result of the merger.

“We intend to consolidate the operational processes of the two entities over time. Therefore, there will be a transitional period during which there will be two sets of operational infrastructure,” UBS earlier said.

Earlier, Credit Suisse Securities (Philippines) withdrew its registration as a broker dealer and stopped its trading operations effective Jan. 31.

The application for voluntary suspension of its trading operations was filed with the Capital Markets Integrity Corp., while an application for withdrawal from registration as a broker dealer was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Cessation of operations of the corporation, meanwhile, was filed with the Philippine Stock Exchange Inc.

Credit Suisse has been a leading financial advisor to the government and major corporates in the Philippines since 1992, providing financing and advisory services spanning capital raising, liability management, merger and acquisition transactions as well as structured finance.

With the impending closure of Credit Suisse AG, there will be nine remaining foreign banks operating representative offices in the Philippines.

These are the Bank of Singapore Ltd. Philippines, Bank of Taiwan, DBS Bank Ltd., Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Korea Eximbank, Rothschild (Singapore) Ltd., State of India, The Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank Ltd. and UBS AG.

Foreign banks have been closing their representative offices in the Philippines over the years.

In April 2023, US-based Bank of New York Mellon shut down its representative office in the Philippines amid the global banking crisis that started with the collapse of American banks Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

In June 2021, Wells Fargo National Association closed down its representative office in Manila during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In December 2020, the Korea Development Bank – Representative Office in the Philippines also closed down amid the global health crisis.

The BSP allows foreign banks  to open representative offices in the Philippines to provide information about the services or products they offer, but may not transact banking businesses, such as acceptance of deposits, issuance of letters of credit and foreign exchange trading.