SWITZERLAND: Credit Suisse, Switzerland’s second-biggest lender, said Thursday that its net profit soared in the third quarter as it makes progress with an ambitious restructuring and cost-cutting programme. Credit Suisse said in a statement that its bottom-line net profit amounted to 244 million Swiss francs (209 million euros, $244 million) in the period from July to September, up from 41 million Swiss francs a year earlier. Revenues, however, fell by eight percent to 4.972 billion Swiss francs, the bank said.
Credit Suisse has embarked on a massive restructuring programme since Tidjane Thiam took over as chief executive in 2015. And the group said it has made headway with its programme to bring down operational expenditure to below 18.5 billion Swiss francs by the end of the year. In the July-September period, the bank made additional cost cuts of 400 million Swiss francs, it calculated. “Our third-quarter results demonstrate the progress we are making,” CEO Thiam said. But he acknowledged that client activity remains “muted” as “uncertain geopolitical developments, central bank policies and the magnitude and timing of reforms in the US, as well as historically low levels of volatility” have left their mark on business. “In addition, activity levels in the third quarter of 2016 were unusually strong due to the combination of the effects of Brexit and the US elections,” Thiam added. Looking ahead to the rest of the year, Credit Suisse said it expects global economic growth to remain strong overall in the fourth quarter, “which could be a significant tailwind for our activities in spite of continuing geopolitical uncertainty.” “After seven quarters of our three-year plan, we remain firmly focused on delivering against our objectives for both business growth and efficiency improvement,” the statement said.
