Credit Suisse: strong results in Q3 amid restructuring plan

Swiss bank Credit Suisse posted a near six-fold year-on-year rise in third-quarter net profit on Thursday, beating analyst expectations amid an ongoing restructuring plan. Switzerland's second-largest bank reported 244 million Swiss francs ($244 million) in third-quarter net profit. The results mark the first time the lender has posted three consecutive profitable quarters under the guidance of CEO Tidjane Thiam. It was also significantly above the 41 million Swiss francs reported for the same period last year.

Credit Suisse is entering the second half of Thiam’s three-year plan to focus on wealth management over investment banking and settle legal cases.

After 6.56 billion francs in losses in 2016 and 2015, Credit Suisse said that third-quarter net income attributable to shareholders was 244 million Swiss francs. 

Though earnings rose significantly, Credit Suisse still has some way to go to deliver the returns investors expect from a top bank. By comparison, rival UBS last week reported quarterly net profit of 946 million francs.

Credit Suisse’s common equity Tier 1 capital ratio, a measure of balance sheet strength that Thiam has sought to improve over the past two years, dipped to 13.2 percent from 13.3 percent in the second quarter.

The bank said that while the outlook for global economic growth continued to improve and it is "happy with the progress" it has made so far, Credit Suisse would also continue to face a number of challenges in the final three months of 2017. 

"Uncertain geopolitical developments, central bank policies and the magnitude and timing of reforms in the U.S., as well as historically low levels of volatility, have impacted client activity levels, which remained muted," Thiam said in a statement.