Credit Suisse Group reported a 1.26 billion Swiss franc (US$1.08 billion) loss during the third quarter yesterday, blaming bad investments and the global financial turmoil.
The result followed a loss warning by Switzerland’s No. 2 bank last week that predicted further writedowns in its investment banking business totaling SF2.4 billion during the quarter.
Revenues halved to SF3.11 billion compared with SF6.02 billion during the period last year.
“While understandable in the context of the market environment, this result is clearly disappointing,” chief executive Brady Dougan said.
Deposits in its private banking business saw a net increase of SF14.5 billion, a sign Dougan said that the bank still enjoys considerable trust among customers.
Rival UBS AG reported massive customer withdrawals in recent months as it struggled to turn around its business after losses and writedowns of more than SF40 billion since the start of the subprime crisis last year.
Dougan said Credit Suisse is working to further reduce its risky liabilities — reportedly SF10 billion to SF15 billion.
But he warned that “we expect the market environment to remain very challenging and we are cautious with regard to the outlook for the fourth quarter.”
Credit Suisse was forced last week to seek a SF10 billion capital injection from the Qatar Investment Authority, a government-controlled fund, to bolster its reserves.
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