Credit Suisse offers paid leave for workers needing to care for children, elderly

By Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi and Oliver Hirt

ZURICH (Reuters) - Credit Suisse <CSGN.S> will be giving employees needing to care for children and family members affected by the coronavirus outbreak a month of paid leave through mid-April, its chairman and CEO told staff in a memo late on Monday.

As the global coronavirus pandemic spreads, business practices around the world have been affected by school closures, travel bans and lockdowns in a growing number of countries.

"The Executive Board has decided to grant paid leave until mid-April for all those employees who have to find childcare solutions due to school closures or need to take care of older family members, in particular, as a result of the situation," Chairman Urs Rohner and new CEO Thomas Gottstein said in the memo to employees seen by Reuters.

"We will continue our efforts to offer rapid and straightforward solutions if we have to make any further adjustments to our working models."

Switzerland's second-biggest bank said it was in discussions with authorities about providing loans to sections of the Swiss economy particularly affected by the coronavirus.

Credit Suisse and other Swiss lenders are considering a 20 billion Swiss franc ($21 billion) loan program to help small businesses, the Handelszeitung newspaper reported on Friday.

(Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; editing by Jason Neely)