Credit Suisse flags $2.2bn loss as wind-down proceeds

Credit Suisse said it may incur $2.2 billion in losses in the third quarter as it exits more businesses following its acquisition by UBS Group AG.

A loss of $1.6 billion will likely result after UBS decided to exit some loan portfolios, according to Credit Suisse’s financial report for the first half of the year. The reclassified loans are part of Credit Suisse assets that have been moved by UBS to a “non-core” unit for wind down. A further $600 million loss may stem from the decision to “wind down certain management arrangements,” the bank said.

The losses from the loan portfolios won’t affect UBS’s third-quarter results because the impact was previously taken into account, according to Andreas Venditti, an analyst at Vontobel.

UBS, which posted a record profit in the second quarter, last month signaled that it is closing two-thirds of Credit Suisse’s investment bank, including almost all its trading operations, as part of plans to exit businesses that don’t fit with its existing strategy. Overall, the so-called “non-core” unit had approximately $55 billion of risk-weighted assets at the end of June. Some $8 billion in positions had been exited during the last quarter.

Investors remain optimistic about UBS’s capacity to successfully integrate its former rival, The bank’s shares have gained 33% this year and are poised for their best quarterly performance in 14 years. The stock rose 0.9% at 9:25 a.m. in Zurich Friday.

UBS reported a $29 billion profit before tax in the second quarter, a result of the accounting difference between the $3.8 billion price the bank paid for Credit Suisse and the value of the acquired lender’s balance sheet.

UBS Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti said this week that he’s seeing “good momentum” in regaining funds that clients pulled from Credit Suisse before the takeover, even if recovering all of the roughly $200 billion that clients pulled isn’t likely.

“It’s going to take a few quarters to regain a good chunk,” Ermotti said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Beijing on Monday. “Getting back everything is going to be almost impossible, but our aim is to recapture as much as possible.”

Credit Suisse clients pulled 100 billion francs worth of assets during the first six months of the year, or 8% of total assets under management, it said in the report. Out of that, 39 billion francs left the lender in the second quarter.