Credit Suisse to make further CHF1bn cost savings

Volatile market conditions have forced Credit Suisse to announce a further CHF1 billion in cost cuts in the next two years. Investment banking difficulties in Asia Pacific (APAC) have forced the bank to reduce profit targets, also for wealth management in the region. Switzerland’s second biggest bank expects to achieve a CHF1.6 billion cost reduction this year, reducing expenses to below CHF19.6 billion. The previously announced future cost base target of below CHF18 billion would be expanded to bring expenses to below CHF17 billion, by the end of 2018. At a press conference on Wednesday, chief executive Tidjane Thiam refused to comment on how the new cost cutting targets could affect jobs. A year ago, Switzerland’s second biggest bank announced thousands of job losses, including 1,600 in Switzerland. Before Wednesday’s investor day, the media had been full of stories predicting a further 1,300 job cuts in Switzerland. But Thiam told journalists that “it would not ...