Credit Suisse Q4 2021 Losses Sink to $2.17 Billion

Credit Suisse, the second-largest Swiss bank, announced on Thursday that it suffered a net loss of 1.57 billion Swiss francs ($1.7 billion) in 2021. The lender’s business was impacted by the litigation provisions and slowdown in its trading and wealth management units.

The reported number for last year was significantly below the street expectation of a 377.95 million Swiss francs loss, according to Refinitiv data. The fourth quarter made the largest dent with a net loss of 2.007 billion Swiss francs ($2.17 billion), on the contrary to analysts’ expectation of 25.73 million Swiss francs in profits.

The net revenue for the fourth quarter came in at 4.58 billion Swiss francs, which is down from 5.22 billion Swiss francs a year earlier. The total operating expense for the period stood at 6.18 billion Swiss francs, compared to 5.17 billion Swiss francs in the previous year.

The losses mounted as the bank sided 1.1 billion Swiss francs as ‘major litigation provisions’ last year.

The net revenue from its wealth management division decreased 8 percent year-over-year, while the performance-based revenue also dropped 25 percent. Further, the revenue of the bank’s global trading solution division declined with lower client activity.

A Bad Year

2021 turned out to be one of the worst years for Credit Suisse on all fronts. The bank was at the center of several scandals, and even its former Chairman had to step down for violation of Covid-19 restrictions.

The investment bank’s business was impacted by the collapse of the British finance firm, Greensill and losses from the investment fund, Archegos. Moreover, the CEO of Credit Suisse, Thomas Gottstein acknowledged the year to be ‘very challenging' for the bank.

“Our clear focus remains on the disciplined execution Execution Execution is the process during which a client submits an order to the brokerage, which consequently executes it resulting in an open position in a given asset. The execution of the order occurs only when it is filled. There is typically a time delay between the placement of the order and the execution which is called latency.In the retail FX space, reliable brokers always strive to deliver best execution to their clients in order to maintain a solid business relationship with them. This is a co Execution is the process during which a client submits an order to the brokerage, which consequently executes it resulting in an open position in a given asset. The execution of the order occurs only when it is filled. There is typically a time delay between the placement of the order and the execution which is called latency.In the retail FX space, reliable brokers always strive to deliver best execution to their clients in order to maintain a solid business relationship with them. This is a co Read this Term of our new Group strategy as announced in November 2021: strengthening our core and simplifying our organization as we look to invest for growth in key strategic business areas,” Gottstein added.

Furthermore, Credit Suisse is defending itself in a criminal trial in a Swiss court for massive failures of anti-money laundering (AML Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Anti-money laundering (AML) is a term that describes laws, processes, and regulations that are intended to prevent illegally obtained funds from being disguised as income gained through legitimate means. The fundamental purpose of the AML laws is to help safeguard, detect, and report suspicious activity including the predicate offenses to money laundering and terrorist financing, such as securities fraud and market manipulation.Most exchanges have AML measures that include identity verification Anti-money laundering (AML) is a term that describes laws, processes, and regulations that are intended to prevent illegally obtained funds from being disguised as income gained through legitimate means. The fundamental purpose of the AML laws is to help safeguard, detect, and report suspicious activity including the predicate offenses to money laundering and terrorist financing, such as securities fraud and market manipulation.Most exchanges have AML measures that include identity verification Read this Term) checks.