Credit Suisse has today reported its worst annual loss since the 2008 global financial crisis, hit hard by client withdrawals and warned that a further "substantial" loss would come this year.
Battered by scandals, the Swiss bank saw a sharp acceleration in withdrawals in the fourth quarter with outflows of more than 110 billion Swiss francs ($120 billion).
However, it said today that the picture has been improving.
Its wealth management division and investment banking unit will also probably be lossmaking in the first quarter of 2023, it forecast.
Switzerland's second biggest bank posted a net loss in the fourth quarter of 1.39 billion francs, in line with expectations.
The result compares with a 2 billion franc loss in the same quarter a year earlier, and brings Credit Suisse's total net loss in 2022 to 7.29 billion francs, marking its second year in the red in a row.
In its flagship wealth management division, Credit Suisse reported outflows of 92.7 billion francs.
This was much higher than the 61.9 billion analysts had expected, and put the new total for the division's assets under management at 540.5 billion.
The haemorrhaging of funds last year led it to breach some liquidity requirements.
The bank completed a 4 billion Swiss franc fundraising in December and said liquidity levels had been boosted, while chief executive Ulrich Koerner said last month that Credit Suisse was "seeing money now coming back in different parts of the firm."
"We have a clear plan to create a new Credit Suisse and intend to continue to deliver on our three-year strategic transformation by reshaping our portfolio, reallocating capital, right-sizing our cost base, and building on our leading franchises," Koerner said today.
The bank also made progress in its plans to spin off its investment banking arm, announcing that it had bought former board member Michael Klein's advisory boutique for $175m.
It did not give details on other investors that may back the unit.
The bank's CET1 capital ratio rose to 14.1% at the end of December from 12.6% at the end of September. Analysts had expected a rise to 13.8%.
Among a slew of scandals in recent years, Credit Suisse has been particularly hard hit by its $5.5 billion loss on US investment firm Archegos and the freezing of $10 billion worth of supply chain finance funds linked to insolvent British financier Greensill.
Rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded the bank to just one level above junk in November.
