A trial in the UK, involving a $440 million lawsuit against Japan's SoftBank over a deal it allegedly coordinated with Greensill Capital prior to its collapse, has revived attention on the saga.

Senior managers at Credit Suisse were warned against dealing with the Australian financier Lex Greensill’s eponymous company three years before the collapse of his Greensill Capital, a report by the Guardian newspaper in the UK said yesterday. Other media reports referred to the matter.

The demise of Greensill, along with other mishaps such as losses from Archegos Capital, contributed to a crisis at Credit Suisse and its eventual emergency takeover by rival UBS in March 2023. The saga left Switzerland with one universal bank. 

Greensill, a supply-chain finance business, also drew a degree of media attention because it employed former UK prime minister David Cameron as an advisor.

The newspaper said that the “character judgment” of senior Credit Suisse managers was challenged in anonymous messages they received as early as 2018, which raised concerns over the Swiss bank’s dealings with Greensill, according to a report by Swiss regulator FINMA, released under a London court order after a request by the Guardian and other media, the report said.

The document showed that senior managers were warned several times about the risks involved in its business dealings with Greensill and his firm, the 2021 collapse of which contributed to Credit Suisse’s shocking demise in March 2023, the newspaper report said. The report said Greensill appeared at the high court in London this week as a witness in a month-long trial, in which a former Credit Suisse fund is suing the Japanese tech investor SoftBank for $440 million over a complex deal it allegedly coordinated with Greensill Capital before its collapse.

“This is a legacy Credit Suisse matter. The conduct described in the report pre-dates UBS’s acquisition of Credit Suisse,” UBS told WealthBriefing when contacted. FINMA declined to comment.