Tidjane Thiam, Credit Suisse has set his target to to pursue further restructuring and cut more 2,000 jobs. As he forecast a first-quarter loss, Thiam will cut more cost to make the Swiss bank more efficient.
In a conference call on Wednesday, Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam told reporters the bank will post a first quarter net loss. He announced his restructuring plan in five months by cutting 2,000 more jobs, in a staged plan to cut 6,000 jobs in 2016.
The Zurich-based lender has seen its trading revenue plunged by 45% in the first quarter. In an effort to prevent further loss, the bank plan to cut its risk-weighted assets in trading business by another 20% to about $60 billion within this year.
New York Times reported that Credit Suisse expected to write down $346 million related to the trading business in the first quarter. The bank also plan to exit businesses that were not consistent with its new strategy. That includes distressed debt and trading of European securitized products.
Tidjane Thiam was the former chief executive of Prudential, the British insurance company. He joined Credit Suisse in July 2015 succeeding Brady Dougan.
During his tenure in Prudential, Thiam was known for his failure attempt to acquire AIA in 2013. The attempt has made British Financial Services Authority (FSA) to impose a £30 million ($42.5 million) fine on Prudential. FSA also censured Tidjane Thiam for failure to inform the authority in a cooperative manner.
After taking helm of Credit Suisse in July 2015, Thiam launched his ambitious plan three months later. He planned to shrink the bank investment business and focused more on wealth management business, particularly in Asia and in other emerging markets. Nevertheless, the plan seem to bring the bank sinking even deeper, as the plan was only focus about cutting more jobs and business.
In an interview with Francine Lacqua on Bloomberg TV as Bloomberg reported, Thiam said, "We're cutting deeper, there will be more restructuring costs." By cutting more jobs, Credit Suisse expect to achieve a gross saving of $1.7 billion
"The divisions, before restructuring are profitable -- Asia, Switzerland, International -- a small loss in IBCM and a big loss in global markets. Once you take the restructuring charges, you fall into losses. That's structural and due to investments we're making right now," Thiam said further.
Many European banks have been struggling with their trading business as regulators began to scrutinize their risky trading activities. Following the tighten regulation, Deutsche Bank AG and Barclays Plc have already trimmed their securities unit.
As for Credit Suisse, CEO Tidjane Thiam's plan is about to restructuring business and cutting more jobs. Thiam seeks to cut 6,000 jobs this year and he has made about 2,800 job cuts.
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