Swiss authorities reveal cost of Credit Suisse's liquidity lifeline

By Noele Illien

ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland's authorities revealed the interest rates Credit Suisse and UBS will pay for the 250 billion Swiss franc ($273.31 billion) emergency lifeline the Swiss banks have been offered.

Credit Suisse will pay an interest rate equal to the current Swiss National Bank's policy rate of 1.5% plus 0.5% for access to the emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) scheme, the central bank said on Thursday.

Credit Suisse said earlier in March it intended to borrow up to 50 billion francs under the facility, which requires loans to be covered by collateral in the form of mortgages and pledged securities.

In measures announced alongside the emergency takeover of Credit Suisse by rival UBS engineered by the authorities, the two banks were also given access to 100 billion francs in additional liquidity assistance (ELA+).

This central bank assistance is available to the banks at an interest of 3% plus its policy rate.

To help it mitigate the impact of hefty outflows, Credit Suisse was also given access to an additional 100 billion franc public liquidity backstop, for which it has to pay a 3% risk premium evenly split between the national bank and the Swiss state.

On top of this Credit Suisse owes Switzerland a 0.25% commitment premium for the public liquidity backstop.

($1 = 0.9147 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Noele Illien and John Revill)