BERN, Dec 19 Reuters Credit Suisse came close to imploding months before its eventual rescue, the Swiss financial regulator said on Tuesday in its first detailed account of the crisis, as it argued for stronger powers to oversee lenders in future.

The regulator, FINMA, which has come under fire for its supervision of the bank, defended its role in the meltdown which eventually led to the biggest rescue of a bank since the global financial crisis of 20082009.

The regulator said it took far reaching and invasive measures to rectify the deficiencies it found at Credit Suisse as panicked customers withdrew huge chunks of cash after a string of losses and scandals.

FINMA said that its measures in terms of liquidity were unable to avert the imminent failure of the bank in midMarch 2023.

FINMA used the full range of tools available to it, and identified the risk of possible destabilisation at Credit Suisse at an early stage, said Thomas Hirschi, head of FINMA39;s crisis unit.

Although its actions had an effect, they were unable to overcome the causes of the loss of confidence, such as shortcomings in strategy implementation and in risk management.

The regulator carried out 108 on site reviews at Credit Suisse from 2018 to 2022, and found 382 points requiring action 113 where the risk was seen as high or critical.

These figures and measures illustrate that FINMA exhausted its options and legal powers, it said in its report.

FINMA said it wanted stronger powers,…