The chairman of Credit Suisse has said he is “truly sorry” for his role in taking the bank to the brink of bankruptcy.

Credit Suisse, the second-largest bank in Switzerland, collapsed last month following over a year of reports about the financial institution's stability – with the shockwaves caused by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and a subsequent run on deposits ultimately proving too much for Credit Suisse to weather. It was taken over by domestic rival UBS in a deal worth around $3.3 billion.

The sale has sparked ire from shareholders after the Swiss government invoked emergency legislation that would allow it to go through without approval from owners of the stock.

At a final shareholder meeting held on Tuesday, chairman Axel Lehman said that he believed the situation could be turned around "until the beginning of the fateful week" and apologised "that we were no longer able to stem the loss of trust."

He added: "Until the end, we fought hard to find a solution. But ultimately, there were only two options: deal or bankruptcy. The merger had to go through."

The shareholder meeting was met with fierce resistance. Groups of protesters gathered outside the venue to demonstrate their anger over the collapse of the 167-year old Swiss institution.

In comments to Reuters, Dominik Gross of the Swiss Alliance of Development Organisations shared this anger, arguing that "the government's use of emergency powers to push this deal through goes beyond legal and democratic norms."

He noted that "Swiss taxpayers too are on the hook for billions of francs of junk investments," and that the government, financial regulator and central bank have "given little explanation about the state's 9 billion (franc) loss guarantee to UBS."

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