On 14 February Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam has a hard time explaining to media the closure of its product VelocitySharesDaily Inverse VIX Short-Term Exchange-Traded Note (ETN). The bank announced it would terminate the second-largest publicly traded product betting on future swings in the S&P 500 after its value plunged. Explaining the initial intention of providing a trading tool for sophisticated investors, he stated: “The contribution of this product to our revenue is only SFr10m per annum… I made SFr5.7bn of revenue (last year). Any notion that this is material to us is (wrong), it is not material at all. It is something we do because clients want it to hedge.” Experts question the logic behind such complex securities. The bank found itself defending a controversial financial product that played a role in big market losses that week. Earlier the Credit Suisse XIV prospectus cautioned: “The long term expected value of your ETNs is zero.”
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