UK Regulator Inspects Possible Bond Disclosure Violations by Two Banks

The UK Financial Conduct Authority is looking into how the Credit Suisse Group AG and the Russian VTB Bank financial services corporation have handled hundreds of millions of dollars of debt, The Wall Street Journal reports citing people familiar with the matter.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The debt was arranged for the purchase of military equipment and vessels for three state-backed Mozambique companies, the newspaper said on Friday. The deals included $622 million in loans to buy military equipment, $535 million in loans to build a shipyard and $850 million in bonds to buy a tuna-fishing fleet.

Mozambique has called in a debt-restructuring specialists to determine whether it should continue paying on some related loans, The Wall Street Journal said.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority is examining whether Credit Suisse Group AG and the Russian VTB violated any regulations concerning bond restructuring disclosures.

Both banks used their UK operations to handle the bonds in question.