Credit Suisse posts another loss on swelling legal costs

Millions in pounds in legal costs to deal with a string of scandals has plunged embattled lender Credit Suisse to another quarterly loss, it announced today.

The Swiss bank, which has been engulfed by sudden board departures and huge losses from its involvement in the Greensill Capital debacle, spent CHF 703m (£578m) on hiring lawyers to fight its corner in court.

Credit Suisse has now posted four losses out of the last six quarters in a sign that ongoing legal costs related to several crises is resulting in the bank being left behind by its rivals.

This time last year, the bank only spent CHF 4m on legal costs (£3.3m), underling the scale of cash it is hemorrhaging to draw a line under the scandals.

In stark contrast, fellow Swiss bank UBS, also the world’s biggest wealth manager, yesterday registered its best profits in 15 years.

Credit Suisse notched a CHF 273m (£224m) loss in the first three months of the year, narrowing from a huge CHF 2.1bn (£1.7bn) loss in the last quarter of 2021.

“Our operating expenses were higher year on year, driven in particular by higher previously reported litigation expenses of CHF 703m for the quarter as we continued our proactive approach to resolving litigation matters,” Thomas Gottstein, chief executive of Credit Suisse, said.

“Against this backdrop, we reported a pre-tax loss for the quarter,” he added.