Credit Suisse on track to boost equity returns, chairman says

Credit Suisse remains on track to boost equity returns to at least ten per cent in 2019, the Swiss lender’s chairman Urs Rohner has said.

Rohner, who has been chairman since 2011, said cost cutting and closing down the bank’s strategic resolution unit – which has weighed down its performance – would help lift the return on tangible equity (ROTE) for shareholders from 6.3 per cent in the first nine months of 2018.

“With that, we will stand out in a cross-comparison with other banks in Europe,”

He also told the Neue Zuercher Zeitung newspaper he wanted to remain in his post until 2012 as long as shareholders agreed.

The bank set a 10-11 per cent ROTE target at a recent investor day in London, at which it also confirmed plans to increase its dividend by at least five per cent annually from next year in a bid to reward shareholders who have suffered heavy losses in recent years.

Chief executive Tidjane Thiam said the bank’s three-year restructuring had been a success and shareholders would reap the benefits in 2019.

Rohner added that Thiam’s efforts may attract job offers from elsewhere, but he was not worried about his CEO jumping ship.

“I know also that he very much enjoys working at Credit Suisse and that he is not planning to leave the bank,” Rohner said.

The bank, which has seen its shares fall 38 per cent over the year expects to report a pre-tax income of Sfr 3.2-3.4bn in 2018, hitting an annual profit for the first time since 2015.

Last month the Swiss lender said its third quarter net profit rose 74 per cent year-on-year to Sfr 424m (£337m), further signalling the restructuring was turning around its fortunes.