Thousands of jobs in the city are at risk as regulators race to save one of the world's biggest banks before markets open on Monday morning.
Executives and bankers are scrambling to make a mercy takeover of Credit Suisse, the Swiss lender with a balance sheet of more than £470bn after a disastrous week in which shares fell by almost a fifth and fueled speculation over its future. started.
Swiss officials attempting to drive through a Bank takeover by rival UBS Having come to the conclusion that this is the only option to ensure long-term sustainability. A deal was sealed on Saturday night as the boards of both banks closed in on meetings over the weekend.
It is feared that failure to reach a deal before Monday morning will lead to further decline in shares which will have a serious impact on the markets around the world.
Previous attempt to restore market confidence by injecting $54bn (£44bn) into Credit Suisse An emergency loan from the Swiss central bank failed to calm nerves on Wednesday, with stocks plunging in the days that followed.
The talks are being closely monitored by the Bank of England, which is not the lead regulator for either bank, but is watching for potential fallout in the UK.
Credit Suisse and UBS employ around 10,000 people in London, with their headquarters in the City of Canary Wharf and Broadgate respectively. If the takeover goes ahead, banking insiders expect it to be one of the biggest redundancy programs since the 2008 crisis.
A takeover would create one of the world's biggest banks with a £1.3 trillion balance sheet, more than twice the size of the Swiss economy – raising questions over whether it would too big to save If the disturbance does not subside.
Parts of the bank will be auctioned off by UBS in future weeks, with rival Deutsche Bank expressing interest in some of its business.
According to the Financial Times, American investment firm BlackRock also considered making a bid for Credit Suisse before making the offer.