Banks that trade with Credit Suisse Group AG rushed to safeguard their exposure with the lender on Wednesday, snapping up contracts that will compensate them if the crisis rocking the Swiss lender deepens.
So frantic was the demand for the derivatives, known as credit-default swaps, that they spiked to levels that signal Credit Suisse is in deep financial distress — something unseen at a major global bank since at least the throes of the financial crisis.