An international cohort of speakers gathered at an Inter-Pacific Bar Assoication (IPBA) panel on 27 February to discuss investor rights in relation to their investments in AT-1 bonds, or additional tier-1 bonds, which are complex, highly volatile instruments issued by banks offering higher interest but no fixed maturity date.
Moderated by Ali Al Hashimi, the vice chair of the IPBA Banking and Finance Committee and managing partner at Global Advocacy and Legal Counsel, Dubai, the panel featured these speakers: Koh Swee Yen SC, partner at WongPartnership, Singapore, Parul Verma, partner at Dentons Link Legal, New Delhi and Kentaro Minato, partner at Atsumi & Sakai, Tokyo.
The panel discussed at length the UBS-Credit Suisse merger, valued at CHF3 billion (USD3.2 billion) and completed in 2025. Swee Yen said that without the merger Credit Suisse would have gone bankrupt, triggering a financial crisis. The matter was significant because the merger resulted in a wipeout of USD17 billion worth of Credit Suisse’s AT-1 bonds.
Affected investors, including from Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong, pursued claims against the Swiss government via international investment treaty arbitration for violation of their investor protection rights.
