Credit Suisse investors fret over bank woes

Credit Suisse had rattled investors earlier this week when it admitted that it had found material weakness in its financial reporting, while its biggest shareholder, the Saudi National Bank, said it could not inject further funds into the Swiss lender.

The issues at Credit Suisse - which employs around 50,000 people worldwide, with around 5,000 in London - have coincided with the failure of two lenders in the US - Silicon Valley Bank SVB and Signature Bank, raising concerns over the health of the banking system.

The US regulators stepped in at the weekend to make sure that customers at SVB and Signature Bank had full access to their money - in an effort to prevent further panic.

The moves have hurt the values of large holdings of bonds bought by banks when rates were lower, a change that has resulted in the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, and has raised questions about whether other firms are facing the same situation.

The Bank of England and the US Federal Reserve were expected to raise interest rates at meetings next week before the turbulence in the banking sector. Due to recent events, some have speculated that these rate rises might be scaled back or even scrapped.