In 1Q16, Credit Suisse’s assets under management totalled CHF1.18trn (£843bn, $1.2trn, €1.07trn), down 13.6% from CHF1.37trn in 1Q15, and down 2.7% from CHF1.2trn in 4Q15.
New assets were CHF10.5bn, up 400% from CHF2.1bn in 4Q15, but a sharp decrease of 29.5% from CHF14.9bn in 1Q15.
Net loss for the quarter was CHF302m, with a pre-tax loss of CHF484m rounding out a weak start to the year.
It should be noted, however, that the 1Q16 net loss is a marked improvement against a net loss of CHF6.4bn in 4Q15.
Global economic challenges
“The overall results for the group reflect challenges in the global economy that created unique pressures for the finance industry – January and February were very challenging months for international financial markets,” said chairman Urs Rohner and chief executive Tidjane Thiam, in a joint statement.
“However, these results also contain clear indications that our strategy is gaining traction in our chosen markets in Asia Pacific (APAC), International Wealth Management (IWM) and Switzerland (SUB).”
Thiam and Rohner attributed the sharp decrease in net revenues in Global Markets (GM) to difficult market conditions, with adverse market movements and the de-risking of Credit Suisse’s portfolio also negatively impacting the company’s results.
The performance of the Investment Banking & Capital Markets (IBCM) division was also affected by adverse operating conditions.
Net revenue for the quarter was as follows:
Realignment
Last year Credit Suisse implemented a strategy to free up capital by shrinking its investment banking operations and expand its wealth management offering, specifically targeting wealthy clients in Asia Pacific.
In March, the bank announced that it will eliminate another 2,000 jobs, making a total 6,000 job losses, and make an addition CHF800m in cost savings.
As of Tuesday, Credit Suisse advised that it has achieved 58% of it headcount reduction for 2016, with an additional 2,500 roles still to be cut this year.
Most of the job losses were in London, New York, Poland, and India.
