Weak bond business hurts Credit Suisse earnings

DPA Updated - March 12, 2018 at 04:47 PM.

Credit Suisse on Thursday reported a 22 per cent fall in operating profit year-on-year in the third quarter, owing to weak bond trading.

Excluding one-off effects, operating profit amounted to 930 million Swiss francs ($ 1.04 billion) and was worse than analysts had expected.

Shares of Switzerland’s second-biggest bank fell 2.25 per cent, the biggest loss among blue-chip companies traded in Zurich.

Credit Suisse saw its net profit rise 79 per cent to 454 million francs. The surge was the result of a one-off revaluation of the lender’s debts in the third quarter of last year, which had weighed down results.

“Even though we achieved a good result in the equities business and with issuing bonds, the difficult conditions in the bond market left their marks on the result,” Chief Executive Brady Dougan said.

In Credit Suisse’s private banking and wealth management branch, cost savings improved profitability, outweighing low interest rates and low client activity.

The bank said it had earmarked a further 128 million francs as litigation costs related to disputes over mortgage bonds in the United States.

Published on October 24, 2013 10:00