Credit Suisse recorded CHF1.2bn ($1.23bn) of pre-tax income in Q1 2020, a 13% rise year-on-year, despite the challenge of Covid-19.

However, this was aided by the gain from the second and final closing of the InvestLab funds platform transfer to Allfunds Group. Without this deal, pre-tax income would have totalled CHF951m, an 11% decrease from the same point in 2019.

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In addition, net income hit CHF1.3bn for Credit Suisse in Q1 2020, up 75% year-on-year. Net revenues also increased, by 7%, to reach CHF5.8bn in the same time span.

Private Banking was highlighted as aiding the quarter for the bank. Net revenues, excluding the InvestLab transfer, were up 9% year-on-year. Transaction-based revenue also saw an increase, 31% year-on-year, as well as stable recurring commissions and fees and net interest income was up 6%.

Credit Suisse Covid-19 response

Despite decent results, the Credit Suisse board of directors decided to revise its dividend proposal for its AGM on April 30 2020.

The board has proposed to distribute half of the originally proposed dividend. An EGM later in the year will hand out the second half of the dividend, subject to market and economic conditions.

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However, the bank cautions that the recovery in advisory and underwriting fees may be limited in the short term. It also named its private banking arm as stable and “contributing significantly” to its revenues and pre-tax income.

Thomas Gottstein, chief executive of Credit Suisse Group AG, said: “In my first quarter as CEO of the Group, we all witnessed a highly challenging environment with a severe impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. We delivered a resilient performance, driven by our SUB, IWM, APAC and GM divisions, while absorbing a significant reserve build of over CHF 1 billion.

“Our wealth management-focused business model proved to be resilient once more, while allowing us to leverage our investment banking capabilities for our clients in a period of high volatility. In line with our global positioning as the ‘Bank for Entrepreneurs’, and emphasising the importance of our home market, we played an active role in the development of the bridging loan solution for Swiss small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), sponsored by the Swiss government. Also, we remained supportive of our global workforce by enabling over 90% of our employees to work from home as well as granting paid family leave as long as schools remain closed, and stayed connected to our societies worldwide.

“Thanks to our strong capital and liquidity base, we are well positioned to support our clients, employees and societies in the coming quarters, during which we expect the COVID-19-related uncertainty to persist.”