Credit Suisse launches $4bn Saudi-backed fundraising

Credit Suisse is seeking to raise SFr4bn ($4.05bn) of capital, including SFr1.5bn from the Saudi National Bank, in an effort to restructure its business as it attempts to move on from a litany of scandals.

The Swiss lender has also agreed to sell part of its securitised products unit to US investment groups Pimco and Apollo and outlined plans to spin off its capital markets and advisory business over the next three years under a rejuvenated CS First Boston brand.

Credit Suisse said on Thursday it would cut SFr2.5bn of costs, representing 15 per cent of its cost base, by 2025. It added that the workforce would shrink from 52,000 to 43,000 over the next three years, including plans to cut 2,700 roles by the end of this year.

The moves are part of the lender’s second strategic revamp in less than a year.

“This is a historic moment for Credit Suisse,” said chief executive Ulrich Körner. “We are radically restructuring the investment bank to help create a new bank that is simpler, more stable and with a more focused business model built around client needs.”

Körner was appointed chief executive in July with a mandate to strip back the scandal-prone investment bank, find savings and dedicate more resources to wealth management.

Credit Suisse also reported a SFr342mn loss for the third quarter on Thursday after warning three months earlier that a loss was likely.

Analysts had expected Credit Suisse’s investment bank to perform poorly because of its reliance on sectors that have struggled in the third quarter, including leveraged finance and dealmaking.

The bank has also lost revenues after cutting back divisions such as its prime brokerage unit as it seeks to reduce risk following its involvement in scandals last year over the collapse of Greensill Capital and family office Archegos.

Under the strategic plan, Credit Suisse plans to reduce risk-weighted assets in its investment bank by 40 per cent over the next three years and focus the unit on serving institutional and wealth management clients with equities, foreign exchange and rates.

Credit Suisse will also set up a capital release products unit, a “bad bank” holding pen for high-risk assets that it seeks to wind down. The unit will include the bank’s securitised products business, although Credit Suisse has also struck an agreement with Pimco and Apollo to “transfer a significant portion” of the division’s assets to them.

Should the bank’s investors approve the SFr4bn capital raise at an extraordinary general meeting on November 23, the Saudi National Bank will become the second-largest shareholder in the group, owning 9.9 per cent, just behind US investment group Harris Associates.

The bank’s top five shareholders include the Qatar Investment Authority and the Olayan Group, a private investment business with Saudi roots.

Credit Suisse said the investment would allow the bank to raise its common equity tier 1 ratio — an indicator of its financial strength — to 14 per cent from 12.6 per cent.

It also said director Michael Klein would leave the board to advise Korner on spinning out the CS First Boston business, which he would later lead as chief executive. The bank also confirmed Financial Times reporting in the summer that former investment bank chief executive Christian Meissner would leave the group.

Credit Suisse reported SFr12.9bn of outflows as clients in its wealth management business and Swiss domestic bank pulled money from their accounts and switched to rivals. Dixit Joshi, the bank’s new chief financial officer, said the withdrawals mostly happened in response to social media rumours that the bank was in distress.

Revenues fell 30 per cent compared with a year earlier, driven by a 58 per cent fall in investment banking income, an 18 per cent drop in wealth management revenues and a 9 per cent decline in the Swiss domestic bank.

The business also set aside SFr178mn in provisions for major litigation and a SFr145mn impairment on IT-related assets in wealth management. Overall, costs were down 10 per cent compared with a year earlier, driven by a SFr398mn fall in pay and bonuses, reflecting the drop in revenues.

Credit Suisse last week announced the sale of its 8.6 per cent stake in Allfunds, the listed Spanish investment company, for €334mn.

The bank has also been clearing up a swath of legacy legal cases, including agreeing to a €238mn fine following a French investigation into tax evasion and money laundering, as well as a $495mn settlement with US prosecutors over financial crisis-era mortgage bond sales.

Credit Suisse shares are down 48 per cent this year at SFr4.76, having hit a record low this month after becoming the target of social media speculation about its financial health.