Archegos Capital / Credit Suisse / Nomura
Archegos Capital Management Collapse
Estimated impact: $10B+ across prime brokers; Credit Suisse $5.5B
Bill Hwang's family office used total return swaps to build $100B+ in concentrated positions with 5x-8x leverage. When ViacomCBS stock dropped, margin calls triggered forced liquidation causing $10B+ in prime broker losses.
Decision context
Multiple prime brokers (Credit Suisse, Nomura, Goldman, Morgan Stanley) each extended leverage without visibility into Archegos's total exposure across counterparties. Risk managers at Credit Suisse flagged concerns but were overridden by relationship managers protecting revenue.
Biases present in the decision
Toxic combinations
- Echo Chamber
- Yes Committee
Reference class base rates
Across all 146 curated case studies in our library:
Lessons learned
- Counterparty risk cannot be assessed without cross-broker visibility
- Revenue incentives must not override risk management escalation
- Total return swaps created opacity that existing regulatory frameworks did not address
Source: Credit Suisse Special Committee Report on Archegos, July 2021; SEC Complaint 2022 (SEC Filing)
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