Credit Suisse Posts Worse-Than-Expected Loss on Legal Woes
Bloomberg News
,(Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse Group AG reported a second-straight quarterly loss, as the lender struggles with a growing burden of legacy litigation costs that continue to batter its reputation.
The Zurich-based bank had a net loss of 273 million Swiss francs ($284 million), more than the 114.9-million-franc loss estimated by analysts for the January to March period, driven by 703 million francs in total legal expenses as well as a 206-million-franc charge related to Russian exposure.
In wealth management, the bank posted a before-tax loss of 357 million francs, worse than the estimated 22.7 million francs. The bank said volatile market conditions, client risk aversion and its own reduced risk appetite contributed to the loss along with the litigation costs. The bank saw net new client asset inflows of 7.9 billion francs, according to a statement on Wednesday.
The sustained losses signal that executives face an uphill battle to make 2022 a period of transition to stability, following last year’s multi-billion dollar hits linked to Archegos Capital Management and Greensill Capital. That’s prompting further blood-letting, with the departure of Chief Financial Officer David Mathers, chief counsel Romeo Cerutti as well as Asia head Helman Sitohang announced on Wednesday.
“I am confident that we are well positioned to build a stronger and client-centric bank that puts risk management at the core to deliver sustainable profit and value for investors, clients and colleagues,” Chief Executive Officer Thomas Gottstein said in a statement.
Credit Suisse last month warned that it may need set aside more than $500 million for a Bermuda case involving a local insurance unit. The bank also signaled approximately 350 million francs in losses related to a decrease in value of an 8.6% stake in wealth-tech platform Allfunds Group.
In the investment bank, which houses the business of advising on mergers and acquisitions, Credit Suisse reported $124 million in pretax profit, missing estimates. The bank had already warned that capital markets activity had slowed in the quarter.
Weak Outlook
“This market environment, in combination with the cumulative effect of our newly defined risk appetite as executed during 2021, has led to an adverse impact on client activity in our wealth management division as well as a reduction in the level of capital markets issuances within our investment bank,” Credit Suisse said in the statement. “We would expect these market conditions to persist in the coming months.”
The negative results and outlook come just ahead of the bank’s annual general meeting on Friday, at which some shareholders are set to increase pressure for more transparency into the collapse of a group of supply chain finance funds run with Greensill.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, one of the largest shareholders in Credit Suisse, seven Swiss pension funds, and the Ethos Foundation, a shareholder advisor, have petitioned the bank to appoint an external auditor to look into the matter.
Investors are also being advised by ISS and Glass Lewis, shareholder proxy advisers, to vote against discharging the board of directors of legal liability for mistakes made in the run-up to the collapse of Archegos.
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