The head of Credit Suisse triumphs



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Zurich As they are proud of their success at Credit Suisse, you can already tell at the door: Outside the event center in Sankt-Peterstrasse in Zurich, they have hung the seal "Best Bank 2018 ", and inside a spokesperson pushes a note with the analyst's estimates in hand. It is peppered with 15 points where the bank has surpassed the expectations of analysts

As they are delighted with their figures at Credit Suisse, but you also hear their boss: "The last quarter was the best of the last twelve quarters", has said CEO Tidjane Thiam. The bank more than doubled its profit to about 647 million francs (559 million euros) compared with the previous year.

With that, the years of restructuring that Thiam used to set up the bank for asset management have finally paid off. Unlike the CEO of Deutsche Bank, Christian Sewing Thiam ticked the biggest construction sites. Although Credit Suisse has not arrived yet. But by the end of the year, she made a profit of several billion dollars, for the first time since Thiam 's investiture, writing in the dark

. Thiam's calculation is simple: revenues have increased 14% since the beginning of 2016, while operating expenses have decreased by 11%.

The further away these scissors are, the more money the bank earns. Others may find saving as a tedious discipline, Thiam likes it. He proudly reported how he abolished the Blackberrys at the bank, although employees liked him. Instead, they should only use iPhones. Thiam speaks of the principle: the bank must reduce the complexity of its systems. "If you do not kill the old technology, you will keep the costs." The directors bowed their reverence like schoolchildren.

When Thiam arrived at Credit Suisse, expectations were high. Before the chairman of the board of directors, Urs Rohner brought him to the bank, the manager significantly increased the share price of the insurer Prudential. But at Credit Suisse, he was very criticized because the success was slow and the stock was well below what he was when he joined the summer of 2015.

Thiam seems upset by criticism of price development. It was not surprising, after all, the institute had significantly reduced its business. The current rate is "not bad at all".

The Franco-Ivorian banker developed his rich business and reduced his risky commercial activity, adopting a strategy similar to that of his biggest rival, UBS, which manages the assets forced early.

Credit Suisse has even gained ground recently. The international asset management business alone generated 13.2 billion new net assets, while UBS recently announced a new capital outflow. The pre-tax profit of the division rose 19% to 433 million Swiss francs. The biggest source of profit remains the Swiss universal bank, which earned 553 million francs

"Strategic Resolution Unit" gets its first success

Credit Suisse is also progressing faster than expected in reducing existing problems: the "Strategic Resolution Unit" already slightly exceeded the targets set for 2018. While there were still about three years, the risk-weighted assets exceeded about 57 billion US dollars, there were recently about ten billion dollars.

The commercial division, on the other hand, disappointed: Profit before tax decreased by 42% to 148 million francs compared to the same quarter of the previous year. While equity profits rose, they declined in bonds. "Global Markets is still far from the estimates because of the higher costs," writes Andreas Venditti, an analyst at Vontobel.

Thiam took this criticism as a no-brainer – his job was not to make sure the bank's divisions forecast analysts but that the bank is doing well overall. Finally, Credit Suisse has deliberately reduced its trading activities, thereby reducing risk. "We do not want to be part of the race anymore," said Thiam, referring to Wall Street competition, which has billions of profits from booming commercial activity.

The commercial section should only do business that is in demand by wealthy customers, according to Thiam. "We play on the world stage, and our share is the administration of global wealth, which is undeniably growing."

Credit Suisse looks to the future with corresponding optimism. The bank warns of geopolitical turmoil and "phases of considerable uncertainty". However, the Swiss remain faithful to their forecasts. In the coming year, return on equity is expected to rise from 7.2% currently to 10% to 11%, by 2020 it is expected to be between 11% and 12%.

It would be another triumph for Tidjane Thiam. "It has been a long journey to date," said the bank's chief. "I am very happy that the results are starting to be as we want them to be, and I think the future will be positive."

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