Credit Suisse didn’t have a great 2017 in Asia, with revenue lower due to a sluggish trading business. Based on the pickup in activity early this year, the Swiss bank might be in for better times.
Credit Suisse, which today reported a narrowing of its loss on a group level, in Asia was held back by falling revenue from trading and securities sales, the company reported in its full-year statement on Wednesday.
Net revenues in the region declined 3 percent to 3.5 billion Swiss francs. The bank attributed this drop to lower fixed income and equity sales as well as lower trading revenue at the markets business.
«Difficult Trading Environment»
«Lower equity sales and trading revenues were primarily driven by weaker results, reflecting a difficult trading environment that was characterized by persistently low levels of volatility and reduced client activity in equity derivatives,» the Zurich-based bank said after reporting a narrowing full-year loss.
Faced with the decline in revenue, the bank kept tight controls on its costs, reducing total spending in the region by 3 percent to 2.76 billion francs. That helped the bank return an almost unchanged pretax profit of 729 million francs (725 million in 2016).
Off to a Great Start
Business is looking more promising this year with trading activity up markedly in the first six weeks. Net revenues were up 15 percent at the markets business as the bank profited from brisker trading.
The bank may also see profits increase following a boost to assets under management last year. In Asia, Credit Suisse had 196.8 billion francs in assets under management at the end of 2017 and net new assets of 16.9 billion, representing an annualized growth rate of 10 percent.
The private bank of Credit Suisse, which has seen net revenues increase by 17 percent last year, expects more to come. The wealth business division is due to open offices in Manila later this year to tap another potentially lucrative Asian market.
