ZURICH (Reuters) – Credit Suisse must execute its revamp successfully and end a string of negative headlines from Switzerland’s second-biggest bank, Swiss National Bank Chairman Thomas Jordan said in an interview aired on Saturday.
Credit Suisse in October announced a plan to lift capital, slash its workforce and focus much more on its flagship wealth management franchise while scaling back volatile investment banking after a string of losses and risk-management failures.
It said this month the turnaround was well under way after completing a 4 billion Swiss franc ($4.3 billion) capital hike.
“It is obvious that such a reorganisation of the bank, the reorientation of the business model, will not be something that could be done overnight. It takes time, it’s a giant challenge for the management and employees of Credit Suisse,” Jordan told Swiss broadcaster SRF in an interview.
He reiterated that the successful capital increase was a “milestone” within the bank’s revamp that reduced risk and was positive for the soundness of the Swiss financial sector.
Asked if he was sleeping more easily, he said:
“In fact we all know that Credit Suisse is in a vital transformation process, it will not be something that may occur by itself, it requires the total concentration of the management of Credit Suisse, but it is crucial that they now consistently implement the announced strategy and that it goes in the fitting direction.”
On other subjects, Jordan played down prospects that the SNB would make payouts to federal and regional governments next yr.
The SNB lost 142.2 billion Swiss francs in the primary nine months of 2022 as rising rates of interest and the stronger Swiss franc slashed the worth of foreign investments.
“It almost needs to be a miracle” for payouts to happen, Jordan said. “The event now we have within the fourth quarter doesn’t indicate that the probability is big. So much can still occur but now we have to be realistic.”
($1 = 0.9335 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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