Drew & Napier, Withers to collaborate on claims against Switzerland over Credit Suisse AT1 losses

[SINGAPORE] Drew & Napier, one of Singapore’s largest law firms, and international law firm Withers are collaborating on their claims against Switzerland for its forced write-down of Credit Suisse’s Additional Tier-1 (AT1) bonds.

The two firms are acting for their respective clients across Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, to recover losses from the write-down of the bonds in March 2023.

The collaboration will likely form the single largest coordinated treaty-arbitration group brought by AT1 bondholders anywhere in the world, Drew & Napier said in a statement on Thursday (Dec 4).

Drew & Napier is representing about 560 bondholders across Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, with total claimed losses exceeding US$300 million.

Through the partnership, investors can benefit from “significant economies of scale”, improved access to third-party litigation funding, and the combined strengths of the two firms, Drew & Napier said.

Litigation funder Omni Bridgeway is looking to fund the combined bondholder group from both firms.

Drew & Napier’s team is led by directors Mahesh Rai and Jonathan Yong, associate director Melissa Ng and senior associate Shreya Kittur.

Withers’ team is led by partners Dr Robert Kovacs out of London and Pardeep Khosa out of Singapore.

At the same time, Drew & Napier said it has helped a group of 184 Japanese investors formally file a request for arbitration, at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), against the Swiss Confederation.

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It expects to file the arbitrations for the Hong Kong and Singapore claimant groups by the first quarter of 2026.

The filing is the first ICSID case brought in relation to the Credit Suisse AT1 write-down, and one of the largest investment-treaty claims ever initiated against Switzerland, the firm noted.

This comes as a Swiss court ruled earlier in October that the regulator’s write-down was unlawful.

The Japanese investors allege that Switzerland breached its treaty obligations to Japanese investors under the Japan-Switzerland Free Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement.

Withers and Drew & Napier are continuing to accept sign-ups from AT1 bondholders in Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan, and investors are “strongly encouraged” to sign up by Jan 9, 2026.