Credit Suisse reports biggest quarterly loss since 2008

Credit Suisse has reported its biggest quarterly loss since the apex of the financial crisis in 2008 as a result of the Sfr1.6bn (£1bn) fine imposed upon it by American authorities for helping clients evade taxes.

The chief executive of the Swiss banking group, Brady Dougan, issued a humble apology as he unveiled a Sfr700m loss for the second quarter, down from Sfr1bn profits in the same period last year.

“I want to reiterate that we deeply regret the past misconduct that led to this settlement and that we take full responsibility for it,” Mr Dougan said in a statement.

Credit Suisse also announced that it was abandoning its commodities trading business as part of the efforts to cut costs in the wake of the American fine. Mr Dougan said the move would “drive further capital, leverage and expense reductions.” The decision was a surprise reversal of a recent pledge by the bank that it was committed to its commodities division. Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Barclays have either shut or shrunk their commodities business in favour of more profitable divisions.

Mr Dougan said the American settlement in May “brought to a close the most significant and longstanding litigation issue for Credit Suisse”, However, later in a press conference he admitted that it was not yet clear how much the case had impacted Credit Suisse’s private banking clients. “It’s hard to exactly estimate the impact but it certainly did have an impact,” Mr Dougan told reporters.

The chief executive said that the bank’s private banking and wealth management division had had a good second quarter and generated “strong net new assets of Sfr11.8bn” driven by growth in its key markets of Switzerland and Asia Pacific.

He also said the investment bank delivered “solid results” in the second quarter. The division reported SF752m of pre-tax profits,

Shares in Credit Suisse closed down 1pc to Sfr25.84.