Law firm challenges Swiss court over delay in Credit Suisse AT1 write-down case, filing shows

By Stefania Spezzati

LONDON (Reuters) -A Zurich-based law firm has filed a complaint with the Swiss Federal Supreme Court challenging a tribunal's delay in addressing investors' claim on the write-down of Credit Suisse bonds, a legal filing seen by Reuters shows.

Hundreds of bondholders in April 2023 sued market regulator FINMA at the Swiss administrative court in St. Gallen to recoup losses on 16 billion Swiss francs ($19.4 billion) of AT1 bonds that were written down when UBS rescued Credit Suisse.There has been no significant activity by the Federal Administrative Court since spring 2024, the filing, submitted in German, shows.

A spokesperson for the Federal Supreme Court confirmed that the court had received the complaint.

The complaint was filed by Zurich-based law firm grosz I poledna, acting for Pallas, the law firm representing the investors, around mid-May, according to a person familiar with the proceedings.

Pallas represents about 800 clients who at the time of the write-down held around $2 billion of Credit Suisse AT1 bonds, a representative for the law firm told Reuters. Pallas declined to comment for the story.

A representative for Switzerland's Federal Administrative court in St. Gallen said: "The proceedings are particularly challenging due to their scope, the high number of parties and the complexity of the legal issues involved, and entail many procedural steps. This is a multi-party procedure, whereby it must also be ensured that all complainants or their legal representatives are granted the right to be heard. We treat the proceedings as a priority."

A spokesperson for FINMA declined to comment.

While questions of an administrative nature were clarified between the second half of 2023 and spring 2024, according to the filing, there have been no "discernible activities" by the Federal Administrative Court, the filing shows.

"While this case is unprecedented for the Swiss courts as there have never been so many appellants challenging one FINMA order, by now it should have progressed as appellants have a right to have their case looked at expeditiously," said Jonas Hertner, a Zurich-based lawyer who had previously represented Credit Suisse AT1 clients at law firm Quinn Emanuel.

The Swiss Federal Supreme Court is the head of the Swiss judiciary system and appellants can file complaints to pressure the administrative court to act.

There is no deadline by which the Supreme Court is required to respond, but complaints of this kind could take a few months, according to lawyers.In October 2023, Reuters reported that the St. Gallen administrative tribunal was weighing whether to grant Credit Suisse investors access to more documents. Back then, some investors had hoped to gain access to filings in a matter of weeks.

The documents, including the responses to the appeal by Credit Suisse and FINMA, have not yet been made public, according to the complaint.

The write-down shocked markets and upended a long-established practice of granting bondholders’ priority over shareholders in a debt recovery. The market has since recovered with UBS tapping the AT1 market after the Credit Suisse rescue.

($1 = 0.8241 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Stefania Spezzati in London. Additional reporting by Oliver Hirt in Zurich. Editing by Elisa Martinuzzi and Susan Fenton)