Credit Suisse departs BMW Sauber

It is no great surprise to hear that Credit Suisse has ended its relationship with the BMW Sauber team. The sponsorship began back in 2001 and a year later the bank helped Peter Sauber to buy out Red Bull's Dietrich Mateschitz after the two men failed to agree on who should drive for the team. Credit Suisse then held 63.25% of the team's share capital until 2005 when BMW bought the team. It is believed that at the time of the purchase a new sponsorship was agreed with Credit Suisse for three seasonsThe new deal will cover the 2006, 2007 and 2008 seasons. This is not a surprise as it is thought that the sponsorship was part of the deal agreed by which BMW took over the team. That may have been part of the purchase agreement with BMW and it is possible that Credit Suisse has been getting its signage for free since then. This would mean that the loss would have a minimal effect on BMW's income.

Credit Suisse has been having a miserable time for most of the last year. In March 2008 the bank was hit by a trading irregularities scandal which resulted in the bank having to write-down $5.73bn. This was followed by a further write-down of $2.65bn resulting from the credit crisis. In the autumn Credit Suisse announced plans to shed around 5300 jobs and there are reports that a similar number will go in 2009.

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