Big Pharma vs Big Banking - who would have thought it!

Geneva - Swiss drug maker Roche has filed a lawsuit for over half a billion dollars against Credit Suisse in a United States court, it was reported Wednesday. The Basel-based pharmaceutical company said the US subsidiary of Credit Suisse invested its money in risky assets, while promising to put the capital, estimated to be worth over 545 million dollars, into safe investments.

A spokesman for Roche confirmed that the documents for the litigation had been filed in a US district court last week, but said that as the matter was ongoing the company could not comment further.

Le Temps, a Swiss paper, said the legal proceedings would be in New York, where the "scandal" fell apart.

Two Credit Suisse traders in New York were arrested last year on allegations that they acted as if they were putting clients' money into sturdy funds, while in fact they bought risky security mechanisms, for which the bankers made more revenue.

The risky securities lost much of their value when the financial crisis hit and the markets later crashed.

Roche is the fourth-largest Swiss company by revenue, while Credit Suisse is number three. The bank is the largest in Switzerland by market capitalization.

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