credit suisse group ags chairman and chief executive expressed regret and disappointment tuesday that efforts by the swiss bank werent enough to navigate and emerge from last months financial turmoil chairman axel lehmann said during what will be the banks last annual general meeting that rising interest rates inflation and market volatility had shaken sentiment and fears of contagion after the collapse of silicon valley bank in the us in march had hit credit suisse when it was at its most vulnerable i apologize that we were no longer able to stem the loss of trust that had accumulated over the years and for disappointing you mr lehmann said trust in credit suisse had already been eroded by legacy issues and patience with the swiss bank had dwindled when faced with the instability caused by the collapse of silicon valley bank time had run out for credit suisse mr lehmann said the bitter reality is that there wasnt enough time for our strategy to bear fruit he said chief executive ulrich koerner said credit suisse had made progress restructuring its investment bank and that it was on track to achieve its targets for the year but last months instability struck after the bank had already been weakened by outflows seen in october while we were able to turn the situation around at the end of 2022 we were unable to repeat this achievement mr koerner said the agreed takeover by swiss peer ubs group ag engineered by swiss authorities was the only viable option for credit suisse both executives said the alternative would have been a restructuring of the bank under swiss banking laws mr lehmann said who added that this would have had severe consequences for global financial markets to stem the decline in the global banking system ubs agreed to acquire credit suisse on march 19 for more than 3 billion with financial support from the swiss government and the swiss national bank