Tuesday 10 May 2016 7:34 am

Credit Suisse posts second quarterly loss and warns over tough market conditions

Credit Suisse posted its second quarterly loss today, as it warned tough market conditions could persist until at least the second quarter.

The figures

Credit Suisse reported a post-tax loss of 302m Swiss francs (£215m) in the first three months of 2016, compared to a profit of 1.1bn francs during the same period last year.

But this was narrower than the average forecast in a Reuters poll of nine analysts for a 424m franc loss.

Net revenues slumped to 4.64bn francs during this period, down from 6.65bn francs in the first quarter of 2015.

Why it's interesting

Today's results will pile pressure onto Tidjane Thiam who took over as chief executive of the bank from insurance group Prudential last July.

Thiam has sought to cut costs, as he seeks to stabilise Credit Suisse's earnings by focusing on wealth management. His push away from the relatively volatile investment banking industry has been applauded by major investors.

The bank is seeking to cut costs by more than three billion francs by 2018, and whittle down its global headcount by around 6,000.

It said today that in the first quarter, on an annualised basis, it made more than half of the 1.4bn francs of net cost savings it was targeting this year.

But concerns persist over its capital position and ability to hit the 2018 profit targets, meaning its share price remains stuck in the doldrums.

What Credit Suisse said

"In the first quarter of 2016 and particularly in January and February, we operated in some of the most difficult markets on record with volumes and client activity drastically reduced," it said.

"While we saw tentative signs of a pick-up in activity in March and then in April, subdued market conditions and low levels of client activity are likely to persist in the second quarter of 2016 and possibly beyond."