Swiss Banking News: November 2008

26.11.2008 Credit Suisse's Private Banking division in Germany, Austria and Switzerland received special recognition in the 2009 Handelsblatt Elite Report and the Fuchsbriefe Report.
Credit Suisse in Germany and Switzerland received the award from the Handelsblatt Elite Report.
Credit Suisse Germany received the top spot in the Fuchsbriefe Report's "all-time best" list, while Credit Suisse Austria got the top award for the best investment proposal.

24.11.2008 The Swiss National Bank (SNB) announced that it has lowered its base rate by 1% with immediate effect. It should be noted that this was the 3rd unscheduled reduction since October. Also, it is the largest cut since the SNB began targeting the London Interbank Offer Rate (Libor) in 2000.
The Swiss National Bank said that the rate cut will offer a generous and flexible supply of liquidity to the Swiss franc money market with a view to bring the Libor down to the middle of the target range.
The SNB said that, as a result of the decrease in the prices of raw materials and oil, price stability will be restored sooner than it was expected. It also stated that inflation is likely to fall below 2%by the end of 2008 However, international economic conditions have become worse, which brought a higher risk of a marked slowdown in Switzerland's economic activity in 2009. So, the SNB lowered the Libor target range by 100 basis points in order to making use of its room for manoeuvre.