Santander CEO does not see contagion risks stemming from Credit Suisse

MADRID (Reuters) – Santander’s Chief Executive Officer Jose Antonio Alvarez said on Tuesday that liquidity in the banking sector was “extraordinarily high” and therefore did not see contagion risks in the sector.

“I don’t think there is that capacity for contagion,” he said when asked about the situation of Credit Suisse.

On Monday, Credit Suisse Group AG saw its shares slide by as much as 11.5% and its bonds hit record lows before clawing back some of the losses amid concerns about the lender’s ability to restructure its business without asking for more money.

“This is whether it is systemic or not. I don’t think it has the capacity with the levels of liquidity in the system, not only in Spain, but everywhere there are extraordinarily high levels of liquidity,” he added.

(Reporting by Jesús Aguado; editing by Emma Pinedo)