Shares of the two biggest Swiss lenders, UBS Group AG and Credit Suisse Group AG, dropped by 15% and by 60%, respectively, on Monday after the pair reached a merger agreement over the previous weekend.
The deal, although supported by the country's fiscal authorities and the Swiss central bank, seemingly failed to spur optimism about banking business in Europe, as other commercial banks also suffered losses at the opening of the trading session across the continent.
Switzerland-listed stocks of UBS and Credit Suisse were down 12.45% and 62.05% to 15.035 Swiss francs and 0.7054 Swiss francs, respectively, at 9:45 am CET. Credit Suisse's shares listed in the United States lost 59.20% in premarket trade and landed at $0.821 at 4:46 am ET.