ZURICH (Finance) – Credit Suisse Group AG posted a 75% rise in first-quarter net profit on Thursday, even as it cautioned the global coronavirus pandemic could impact performance in coming quarters.
“The scale of the adverse economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis is still difficult to assess and we would caution that we may also see further reserve build and impairments in the coming quarters,” the Swiss bank said in a statement, adding the bank believed it could nonetheless maintain a “resilient” financial performance.
Credit Suisse saw net profit rise to 1.314 billion Swiss francs (1.09 billion pounds), helped by a negative tax rate and one-off gains, and as a boost to trading revenue from volatile markets and “exceptionally high levels of client activity” in some areas helped cushion a rout in deal-making.
Fourteen analysts polled by the bank had on average expected to see net profit of 997 million francs for the quarter.
“Thanks to our strong capital and liquidity base, we are well positioned to support our clients, employees and societies in the coming quarters, during which we expect the COVID-19-related uncertainty to persist,” said Thomas Gottstein, presenting the bank’s results for the first time since taking over as chief executive from Tidjane Thiam in February.
Thiam quit after a scandal over spying on senior executives hit the bank’s reputation.
The first major European lender to report earnings since the coronavirus pandemic upended markets and brought businesses and economies to a halt, Credit Suisse said it had built up over one billion Swiss francs in reserves during the quarter to reflect the challenging economic environment and pressure on oil prices.
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