Credit Suisse announces full-year and 4Q15 results 

Credit Suisse reported Group FY2015 pre-tax loss of CHF 2,422 million and 4Q15 pre-tax loss of CHF 6,441 million, including substantial charges which are not reflective of our underlying business performance: goodwill impairment of CHF 3.8 billion, restructuring costs of CHF 355 million, significant litigation items (FY2015 CHF 821 million; 4Q15 CHF 564 million), Strategic Resolution Unit (SRU) losses (FY2015 CHF 2,510 million; 4Q15 CHF 1,122 million) and Fair Value of Own Debt (FVOD) impact (FY2015 gain of CHF 298 million; 4Q15 loss of CHF 697 million).

Credit Suisse reported Core pre-tax income for FY2015 of CHF 88 million and a Core pre-tax loss of CHF 5.3 billion for 4Q15, and on an adjusted* basis Core pre-tax income of CHF 4.2 billion for FY2015 and a pre-tax loss of CHF 0.4 billion for 4Q15, consistent with our underlying business performance. We will report quarterly on this same adjusted basis at Group, Core and business level until 2018 to allow investors to monitor our progress in implementing our new strategy.

Positive start to the implementation of the new strategy:

• 4Q15 adjusted* pre-tax income of the new divisions Asia Pacific (APAC), Swiss Universal Bank (SUB) and the Private Banking business within International Wealth Management (IWM) up 21%, 25% and 4%, respectively, compared to 4Q14
• Strong FY2015 net new asset generation in APAC and SUB of CHF 17.8 billion and CHF 13.8 billion, respectively, with positive net new assets in 4Q15 of CHF 3.0 billion and CHF 1.3 billion, respectively
• Increased mandates penetration from 15% to 26% in SUB and from 23% to 30% in IWM
• Acceleration of cost savings program: 34% of 2018 target actioned by January 31, 2016; CHF 1.2 billion of the targeted CHF 3.5 billion
• Investment Banking & Capital Markets (IBCM) strongest quarter in 4Q15 in terms of announced M&A transactions in the last five years

Positive performance was offset by challenges in Global Markets (GM) with an adjusted* pre-tax loss of CHF 0.7 billion in 4Q15, and pre-tax income of CHF 1.1 billion for 2015

• Resilient performance in equities despite a slowdown in market activity and difficult macro environment in Latin America in 4Q15
• Negative impact from volatile market conditions and widening credit spreads on a number of legacy positions in fixed income business

Addressing legacy issues:

• Goodwill impairment, mainly related to the acquisition of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ) in 2000
• Continued restructuring of fixed income business to further de-risk earnings and reduce fixed cost base
• Continued material litigation related charges
• Reduction of compensation deferral rates to make cost base more flexible

Look-through CET1 ratio of 11.4%; Look-through CET1 leverage ratio of 3.3%

Board of Directors proposes cash distribution of CHF 0.70 per share for 2015, with optional scrip alternative

Tidjane Thiam, Chief Executive Officer of Credit Suisse, said: “Since October 21, we have been implementing with discipline our new strategy, with a new organizational structure and the completion of our capital raise, for which we are grateful to our shareholders. Our new geographic divisions have had a good year delivering profitable growth. APAC, SUB and IWM’s Private Banking business have increased their adjusted* pre-tax income by 21%, 25% and 4%, respectively, compared to 4Q14. FY2015 net new asset generation (NNA) has been strong for APAC and SUB with CHF 17.8 billion and CHF 13.8 billion, respectively, with continued positive NNA in 4Q15 of CHF 3.0 billion and CHF 1.3 billion, respectively.

Source: Credit Suisse – Credit Suisse announces full-year and 4Q15 results

---