Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse has reported a pre-tax loss of CHF2.44bn for full year 2015 compared to a pre-tax profit of CHF3.6bn in the year ago period.
The pre-tax loss, which was its first annual loss since 2008, includes goodwill impairment of CHF3.8bn, restructuring costs of CHF355m and significant litigation items of CHF821m.
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The group’s core pre-tax income for 2015 was CHF88m compared to CHF7.2bn in 2014 and, on an adjusted basis core pre-tax income was CHF4.2bn compared to CHF 6.3bn in 2014.
Core net new assets (NNA) for the year were CHF50.9bn compared to CHF37.5bn in 2014.
Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam said: "Given the particularly challenging environment we face, we decided in the fourth quarter to accelerate the implementation of our cost savings program across the bank. We have identified and actioned initiatives that will permanently reduce our fixed cost base, resulting in cost savings of CHF 500 million per annum on a full year run-rate basis."
Credit Suisse’s International Wealth Management (IWM) unit reported a pre-tax income of CHF709m for 2015, a decline of 42% compared to CHF1212m in the same period a year ago.
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By GlobalDataNet revenues were CHF4.4bn, a decrease of 8% from CHF4.75bn in 2014. The unit’s total operating expenses stood at CHF3.68bn, up 4% compared to CHF3.52bn in 2014.
The bank also revealed plans to cut 4,000 jobs globally worldwide in the coming years as part of the restructuring programme.
"We are implementing a reduction of approximately 4,000 positions (employees, contractors and consultants). Combined with the measures already implemented in the fourth quarter (including the transfer of our US Private Banking) the cost savings actioned by the end of January will represent CHF 1.2 billion per annum, or 34%, of the CHF 3.5 billion of savings targeted by end 2018," Thiam added.
Regarding our outlook, Tidjane Thiam said: "We continue to believe that wealth management, supported by our investment banking capabilities, remains a uniquely attractive long-term opportunity for our bank, as we are well positioned to create value for our customers, individual and institutional, across our chosen markets. Therefore we will continue to implement our strategy with discipline during the 35 months that now separate us from the objectives we committed to achieving by December 2018."
