By Noele Illien
ZURICH, March 30 (Reuters) - Switzerland's authorities
revealed the interest rates Credit Suisse and UBS will pay for the 250 billion Swiss franc ($273.31
billion) emergency lifeline the Swiss banks have been offered.
Credit Suisse will pay an interest rate equal to the current
Swiss National Bank's policy rate of 1.5% plus 0.5% for access
to the emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) scheme, the central
bank said on Thursday.
Credit Suisse said earlier in March it intended to borrow up
to 50 billion francs under the facility, which requires loans to
be covered by collateral in the form of mortgages and pledged
securities.
In measures announced alongside the emergency takeover of
Credit Suisse by rival UBS engineered by the authorities, the
two banks were also given access to 100 billion francs in
additional liquidity assistance (ELA+).
This central bank assistance is available to the banks at an
interest of 3% plus its policy rate.
To help it mitigate the impact of hefty outflows, Credit
Suisse was also given access to an additional 100 billion franc
public liquidity backstop, for which it has to pay a 3% risk
premium evenly split between the national bank and the Swiss
state.
On top of this Credit Suisse owes Switzerland a 0.25%
commitment premium for the public liquidity backstop.
($1 = 0.9147 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Noele Illien and John Revill)
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