Credit Suisse Group reported a 1.26 billion Swiss francs ($1.08 billion) loss during the third quarter Thursday, blaming bad investments and the global financial turmoil. The result followed a loss warning by Switzerland's No. 2 bank last week that predicted further writedowns in its investment banking business totaling 2.4 billion francs ($2.06 billion) during the quarter. Revenues halved to 3.11 billion francs ($2.66 billion) compared with 6.02 billion during the period last year. “While understandable in the context of the market environment, this result is clearly disappointing,” said chief executive Brady Dougan. Deposits in its private banking business saw a net increase of 14.5 billion francs ($12.4 billion), a sign Dougan said that the bank still enjoys considerable trust among customers. Rival UBS AG reported massive customer withdrawals in recent months as it struggled to turn around its business after losses and writedowns of more than 40 billion francs since the start of the subprime crisis last year. Dougan said Credit Suisse is working to further reduce its risky liabilities - reportedly 10-15 billion francs ($8.6-12.9 billion). But he warned that “we expect the market environment to remain very challenging and we are cautious with regard to the outlook for the fourth quarter.” Credit Suisse was forced last week to seek a 10 billion franc (US$8.6 billion) capital injection from the Qatar Investment Authority, a government-controlled fund, to bolster its reserves. Rival UBS AG reported massive customer withdrawals in recent months as it struggled to turn around its business after losses and heavy writedowns since the start of the subprime crisis last year. Last week Switzerland's largest bank took up a government offer of almost US$60 billion that will allow it to dispose of toxic assets _ the complex securities that have fallen in value and helped trigger the world financial crisis. Credit Suisse passed up a similar offer, opting instead to seek a 10 billion franc (US$8.6 billion) capital injection from foreign investors, including the government-controlled Qatar Investment Authority, to bolster its reserves. Banking analysts said earlier this week that they were looking for reassurances that Credit Suisse too is disposing of its troubled investments.
