Often enough, the stories, mostly written in a mocking tone, also hit Credit Suisse (CS). In the past two years, the bank has provided a lot of material for ugly headlines: several scandals have cost the bank a double-digit billion sum, the supervisory board has replaced the management team, and customers have withdrawn their assets. Only a successful capital increase gave Credit Suisse a breather.
With Hässig it sounds like this: “Next billion loss: CS acute in the fight for survival”. Reports on austerity programs decided by the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Axel Lehmann, and CEO Ulrich Körner, are titled by the journalist as follows: “Abbruch-GmbH Körner-Lehmann: Nothing is sacred” or “Körner breaks up Credit Suisse, the bank is bleeding out”.
Most of the targets of Hässig’s reporting endure the riotous lines – but the second largest Swiss bank no longer wants to accept it: It has filed a lawsuit for dozens of articles and hundreds of reader comments. “Credit Suisse has decided to have the legality of reader comments and texts legally checked. This is done to protect our employees, who are regularly insulted and denigrated on the blog,” the bank said.
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The bank is also demanding the surrender of the profit that Hässig is said to have made through his clickable headlines. The amount in dispute was set at EUR 300,000. A lot of money for the financial blog, which Hässig runs practically single-handedly. He sees the procedure in the tradition of so-called SLAPP lawsuits from Anglo-Saxon countries, which aim to intimidate critics.
Reader comments in focus
The complaint, from which “Inside Paradeplatz” quotes, states, among other things, that Credit Suisse is “made contemptible, even simply written off, customers and employees are even actively encouraged to leave the bank”.
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Hässig defends himself against it: “The fact that the media can write companies to the ground is bullshit,” he says. “The misery is always the fault of the management.” He calls the lawsuit for the return of the profits he is said to have made through the articles about Credit Suisse the “latest achievement of Swiss media lawyers”.
In fact, the focus of the legal dispute is primarily on the comments under his articles, as confirmed by banking circles as well as Hässig himself: “That could be the crucial point,” says the financial journalist. In the comment columns, the readers of “Inside Paradeplatz” regularly let off steam under the protection of anonymity. Hässig prevents the worst hate messages from going online – but he also repeatedly unblocks opinion pieces that other media would not tolerate.
“If I lose because of the comments, I’ll have to think about something,” says Hässig self-critically. “I think that’s a pity – and I’m not saying anything about the quality of the comments.” He openly admits that some of them are at the lowest level.
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He claims to be tough on the lower limit, for example when it comes to criminally relevant content. “I react to the slightest hint,” says Hässig. Some media outlets have had other experiences.
On the other hand, the plaintiffs at the bank are clear: scandals like Greensill, which cost the bank billions and a lot of trust from wealthy customers, were uncovered by the “Financial Times” – and were primarily their own fault. Credit Suisse had launched supply chain finance funds alongside bankrupt fintech Greensill, which proved to be of no value. Credit Suisse customers had invested up to ten billion dollars in the funds, which the bank ultimately had to liquidate.
More: Credit Suisse struggles with the withdrawal of customer funds – shareholders wave through the capital increase