Credit Suisse says it shut Ai Weiwei account due to missing paperwork (updated)

TX AG

08/11/2021 13:20

(Updates Saturday's story to add context to Ai Weiwei's
complaint and newspaper story)
    ZURICH, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Credit Suisse  CSGN.S  closed a
bank account of dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei because of
missing paperwork, it said on Saturday, responding to his
accusation that the Swiss bank had shut him out as part of a
strategy to win business in China.
    "The bank's decision was made in spring 2021 because Mr
Weiwei did not provide legally required information despite
repeated requests from the bank," the bank said in a statement
to Reuters. 
    "The termination of the client relationship was justified by
business reasons," it added, confirming comments made in an
earlier report in Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger.
    The newspaper wrote on Saturday that Credit Suisse had
changed its position from earlier comments to Ai that it had
decided to close the artist's bank account because he had been
convicted of crimes.
    No rule exists that people with criminal convictions can
have their bank accounts closed, the newspaper said, while Ai
has never been convicted or charged.
    In February, Ai answered detailed questions about his
income, domicile and expenses from Credit Suisse, the
Tages-Anzeiger added.
    "So why was Credit Suisse using my 'crime' as its reason to
terminate my bank account? Not long ago the institution
announced that it was accelerating its recruitment of employees
in China," Ai wrote in September on website artnet.com 
    "At the same time, it would be seeking to take majority
control of its joint ventures in the securities market and to
apply for a license that would allow it to expand its business
in both personal and investment banking."
    Ai, who spent 81 days in detention in China in 2011, later
told Reuters https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinese-activist-ai-weiwei-says-credit-suisse-closing-his-foundations-bank-2021-09-07:
 "Even if they do reverse this decision, I am not willing to be
associated with a bank which has such a strange relationship
with China."
    The 64-year-old is one of China's highest-profile artists
and political activists, and helped design the 2008 Beijing
Olympics Bird's Nest stadium before falling out with the Chinese
authorities. He now lives in Portugal. 
    He did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on
Saturday.

 (Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Peter Graff and Jan
Harvey)
 ((John.Revill@thomsonreuters.com; +41 58306 7022; Reuters
Messaging: john.revill.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))