What are AT1 bonds and why are Credit Suisse's now worthless? | CNN Business

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The owners of Credit Suisse's $17 billion worth of 'additional tier one' -- or AT1 -- bonds will receive no payout after the value of their holdings was slashed to zero. Here's what AT1 bonds are and why Credit Suisse's are now worthless.

Investors in a riskier type of Credit Suisse’s bonds had their holdings slashed to zero Sunday after Swiss authorities brokered an emergency takeover of the bank by rival UBS. On Sunday, the Swiss National Bank announced that UBS would buy Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs — or about 60% less than the bank was worth when markets closed on Friday. Credit Suisse shareholders will be largely wiped out, receiving the equivalent of just 0.

Ordinarily, bondholders are higher up the pecking order than shareholders when a banks fails. But because Credit Suisse’s demise has not followed a traditional bankruptcy, analysts told CNN, the same rules don’t apply. “The hierarchy of claims remains applicable in the EU… there is no way that shareholders can be paid and AT1 holders [are] paid zero,” Benamou said. “The decision taken by the Swiss authorities is really very strange.

 

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Still struggling to understand how ordinary shareholders take precedence over bondholders. Someone explain it to me please, why the exception in this scenario?

CS equity holders:

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The $275 billion bank convertible bond market thrown into turmoil after Credit Suisse's securities wiped outSwiss regulator Finma's write down of 16 billion Swiss francs ($17.2 billion) of risky bonds in Credit Suisse caused the price of AT1 bonds across the market... The market deems this bullish. Who was using those bonds as collateral?
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