The Credit Suisse registers its first loss in three years
Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN), the second- biggest Swiss bank, said it had a loss in the fourth quarter for the opening time since 2008, hurt by “unfavorable” markets and costs to rearrange the investment bank. Credit Suisse came down the most in five weeks in Zurich trading after posting a net loss of 637 million Swiss francs ($698 million), compared with an 841 million-franc profit in the year- earlier period. That missed the 446 million-franc average profit estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Credit Suisse Chief Executive Officer Brady Dougan said actions taken to speed up a revamp of the investment bank hurt earnings in the quarter. Dougan, who lowered the company’s profit target and announced two rounds of job cuts last year, is scaling down the securities division as the European sovereign debt emergency and stricter capital necessities crimp earnings. Pretax profit at the private bank dropped 43 percent with “passive” client activity in the fourth quarter.
