The banking group said improvements in its wealth management segment results are accelerating.

Credit Suisse reported a broadly strong set of figures for the first quarter of this year, logging pre-tax income of SFr1.1 billion ($1.12 billion), a gain of 57 per cent on a year ago, while adjusted pre-tax income gained 36 per cent, at SFr1.2 billion.

Across all its wealth management arms, Switzerland’s second-largest bank generated SFr1.3 billion of adjusted pre-tax income, a rise of 61 per cent – around SFr500 million – over the past three years. More than half of the improved additional pre-tax income was generated in the first quarter alone, showing that progress is accelerating, the bank said in a statement today.

The Zurich-listed group’s Swiss Universal Bank made adjusted pre-tax income of SFr554 million, up 15 per cent year on year. Net revenues rose 3 per cent year on year on an adjusted basis, driven by increased transaction-based revenues and recurring commissions and fees. In the private clients segment of the Swiss business, net new assets reached SFr2.7 billion, the highest quarterly level to date, it said.

Within Credit Suisse’s international wealth management, segment, adjusted pre-tax income rose by 45 per cent year-on-year to SFr474 million. Double-digit growth in net revenues reflected broad-based contributions across most businesses. Total operating costs held steady; adjusted return on regulatory capital increased 9 percentage points to 35 per cent in the first quarter. Private banking delivered an adjusted pre-tax income of SFr382 million, up 46 per cent on a year earlier. Net new assets stood at SFr5.5 billion at an annualised growth rate of 6 per cent, with strong inflows in emerging markets and Europe, Credit Suisse said in a statement.


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The bank’s Asia-Pacific wealth management and connected businesses reported a robust Q1 set of figures, it said. Adjusted pre-tax income was SFr288 million, with a 12 per cent increase in net revenues compared to Q1, 2017. Private Banking saw strong client activity, resulting in its highest quarterly revenues to date, up by 11 per cent year on year, with increases in both transaction-based revenues and recurring commissions and fees. Net new assets reached SFr6.2 billion in the first quarter of this year, and assets under management totaled SFr199.1 billion at the end of the quarter.

“We have now completed 9 quarters of our 12-quarter restructuring program. 2016, the first year of our programme, was a year of deep strategic change and restructuring. 2017 was a year of stabilisation and consolidation of the business, and we had planned 2018 to be a year of acceleration in our performance,” Tidjane Thiam, chief executive, said.

“With these first quarter results, we got off to a good start in our third and final year of restructuring, and we are looking ahead to the future with confidence in our new business model and in our execution capabilities. Thanks to the progress made in 2016 and 2017, we are nearing pre-restructuring levels of absolute profit, with a higher quality, more capital-efficient business mix that can generate growing amounts of capital organically with higher capital velocity and a higher return on capital through the cycle, while consuming less risk capital per unit of income,” he added.

At the Credit Suisse group level, first-quarter net income attributable to shareholders was SFr694 million, beating the average forecast of analysts polled by Reuters, the news wire said today.

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