Credit Suisse to reorganise as profits jump

[ZURICH] Credit Suisse announced Thursday it would reorganise operations to create a global investment bank and announced quarterly profits jumped by nearly a quarter.

The move will see Credit Suisse merge several existing business units "to form a globally integrated Investment Bank to achieve critical scale," the bank said in a statement.

Nevertheless, Credit Suisse said it would retain its focus on global wealth management.

The bank also announced plans to cut 400 million Swiss francs (S$601.8 million) from operating expenses from 2022.

"The changes should allow us to extract significant potential to improve effectiveness and efficiency, navigate the current environment with the necessary far-sightedness, and to unlock additional growth potential in the future to the benefit of our clients," chief executive Thomas Gottstein said.

During the second quarter net profits rose by 24 per cent to nearly 1.2 billion Swiss francs.

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Revenues climbed 11 per cent from the second quarter last year to 6.2 billion thanks to investment banking and trading operations.

The bank said it plans to release the second part of its 2019 dividend if shareholders approve at the November general shareholders meeting.

The bank, like many of its peers, split the 2019 dividend payment into two parts after regulators urged caution about handing investors cash until the impact of the coronavirus pandemic becomes clearer.

AFP