Credit Suisse profit surges over 100 percent to $655 million, beating expectations

Credit Suisse profit surges over 100 percent to $655 million, beating expectations

Finance 31 Jul, 2018

FABRICE COFFRINI | AFP | Getty Images

A Swiss flag flies over a sign of Swiss bank Credit Suisse on May 8, 2014 in Bern.

Credit Suisse reported Tuesday a net income of 647 million Swiss francs ($655.33 million) for the second quarter of the year.

The figure beat analysts' expectations, which had pointed to a net income around 550 million Swiss francs. It is also more than double the level seen a year ago, when net income was 303 million Swiss francs.

Nonetheless, the bank's performance came in slightly lower from what it had reported during the first quarter of the year, when net income stood at 694 million Swiss francs.

Here are some of the highlights for the second quarter:

Net income: 647 million Swiss francs ($655 million)Net revenues: 5.6 billion Swiss francs ($5.57 billion)CET1 ratio: 12.8 percent

Tidjane Thiam, chief executive officer of Credit Suisse, said the second quarter of 2018 "was a period of continued strong performance as we achieved our highest adjusted pre-tax income in the last 12 quarters."

"For the remainder of 2018, we will continue to focus on growing our wealth management franchise and completing the last two quarters of our restructuring successfully," he said in a statement.

Thiam also promised that looking to 2019 and beyond, the bank will seek to improve profitability, higher returns and growing shareholder value.

Stock price has struggled

Shares of Credit Suisse have been under pressure this year, down about 9 percent year-to-date. Thiam told CNBC's Joumanna Bercetche that this is a result of legacy issues and does not fully reflect appetite for the bank.

"I can tell you in the last six months every one of the top 20 shareholders ... every single one has increased its exposure," Thiam said.

Commenting on Tuesday's earnings, Thiam also said: "What we like is that everything we said it would happen is happening". He seemed particularly positive about the bank's wealth management division, which brought in net revenues of 1.34 billion Swiss francs, higher than the 1.26 billion reported a year ago.

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