Credit Suisse profit falls
Credit Suisse’s first-quarter net profit shrank, as a 1.5bn Swiss franc (£1bn) loss on its own debt ate into profits.
In a statement the Swiss bank didn’t add to ongoing job cuts of seven percent of its workforce, or roughly 3,500 staff, as some analysts had expected.
Credit Suisse posted a net profit of 44m Swiss francs, compared to 1.13bn net profit last year.
“Our performance in the first quarter is indicative of what our business model can produce and it underscores the strength of the client franchise we have built over the past years,” Chief Executive Brady Dougan said in a statement. The bank didn’t provide an outlook.
Stripped of the debt loss, Credit Suisse’s first-quarter profit was 1.355bn Swiss francs.
Banks can record gains if the value of their debt falls, since it becomes theoretically cheaper to repurchase it, and conversely book losses if the value of the debt rises, as rival UBS is expected to do when it reports the quarter on 2 May.