Thousands of jobs in the city are at risk due to the race to save Credit Suisse

Thousands of jobs in the city are at risk as regulators rush to bail out one of the world’s largest banks before markets open on Monday morning.

Officials and bankers are scrambling to secure a gracious takeover of Credit Suisse, the Swiss lender with a balance sheet of more than £470bn, after a disastrous week in which shares fell nearly a fifth and speculation about its future intensified.

The Swiss authorities are trying to achieve a takeover of the bank by rival UBS, having come to the conclusion that this is the only option that can ensure long-term stability. The deal could be closed as early as Saturday evening, with both banks’ boards of directors meeting over the weekend.

There are fears that a failure to close a deal before Monday morning will cause stocks to fall further, with serious repercussions in markets around the world.

An earlier attempt to restore market confidence by injecting $54bn (£44bn) into Credit Suisse with the help of an emergency loan from the Swiss central bank failed to calm nerves on Wednesday, and shares fell lower in the following days.

The talks are being closely monitored by the Bank of England, which is not the lead regulator for either bank, but is monitoring potential implications in the UK.

Credit Suisse and UBS employ about 10,000 people in London and are headquartered in Canary Wharf and Broadgate in the City respectively. Banking insiders are expecting one of the biggest layoff programs since the 2008 crisis if the takeover goes through.

The takeover would create one of the largest banks in the world, with a balance sheet of £1.3 trillion, more than twice the size of the Swiss economy, raising questions about whether it would be too big to bail out if the turmoil didn’t subside.

Parts of the bank are likely to be auctioned off by UBS in the coming weeks, with rival Deutsche Bank expressing interest in some of its operations.

US investment firm Blackrock was also considering an offer to buy Credit Suisse before withdrawing the offer, according to the Financial Times.