About Us Press Release

Press Release

Investor Day 2018

Credit Suisse continues to deliver on its strategy and to generate profitable growth
  • On track to successfully complete three-year restructuring
  • Confirms RoTE targets for 2019 and 2020
  • For 2019, Board of Directors approves buyback of Credit Suisse Group AG ordinary shares of up to CHF 1.5 billion; anticipates buyback of at least CHF 1 billion, subject to market and economic conditions
  • For 2020, we expect a similar share buyback programme
  • Plans to increase ordinary dividend by at least 5% per annum from 2019 onwards

Zurich, December 12, 2018 – We will today update investors and analysts on the progress we have made as we near the completion of our three-year restructuring programme. We will highlight how we intend to continue to increase our returns beyond 2018, having successfully executed a deep and necessary restructuring.

Driving profitable, compliant growth and increasing returns

As our restructuring draws to a close, we have delivered on the strategic objectives we set ourselves three years ago. We have achieved profitable growth in our Wealth Management-related businesses1, significantly reduced our adjusted* operating cost base, beyond our target and sustainably lowered our break-even point. We have also right-sized and de-risked our Global Markets activities while maintaining delivery of high quality products and services to clients from that part of the business.

The adjusted* profits from our Core businesses2, are expected to be more than 20% higher in 2018 than they were in 2015, with a significantly reduced level of risk3, down 41% in 9M18 compared to 2015.

We have transformed and significantly strengthened our capital position and reallocated more capital to areas and regions of growth, such as our Wealth Management-related and Investment Banking & Capital Markets (IBCM) businesses. This has led to a significant shift in our business mix, while reducing overall capital consumption.

The successful implementation of our Wealth Management strategy has allowed us to continuously grow Wealth Management-related revenues since the third quarter of 2015. We have delivered CHF 1.4 billion of revenue growth across our three Wealth Management-related divisions, where revenue grew at a CAGR, over the period, of 16% for APAC Wealth Management & Connected (APAC WM&C), 6% for International Wealth Management (IWM) and 1% for our Swiss Universal Bank (SUB). IBCM has also delivered revenue growth (7% CAGR in US dollars), outpacing peers since 20154.

We have focused on growing the quality of our Wealth Management-related revenues by increasing our stable, more resilient net interest income and recurring revenue stream. Since 4Q15, we have consistently driven adjusted* returns on regulatory capital higher across these businesses.

At the same time we have transformed our cost base, allowing greater operational leverage across our key businesses. We will today confirm that for 2018, we expect the adjusted* operating cost base to be CHF16.9 billion, below our CHF 17 billion target, and that we expect to deliver CHF 4.3 billion in net savings since the end of 2015, surpassing the cumulative more than CHF 4.2 billion target we set three years ago.

We have also dealt effectively with our key legacy issues through the Strategic Resolution Unit (SRU), which we set up three years ago and which we today confirm will be closed on schedule at the end of the year.

We have made great strides in strengthening our risks, compliance framework and controls to ensure that the bank can focus on supporting and delivering high quality business worldwide. In parallel, we have driven improvements in our culture which have contributed to achieving the sustainable, compliant and profitable growth we have seen since 2016.

Our strategy to be a leading wealth manager with strong investment banking capabilities has proven to be the right one, as, since adopting the strategy in 2015, global wealth has continued to grow5, and global sales and trading revenue pools have continued to decline5. Following a balanced approach between mature and emerging markets in Wealth Management, focusing on Ultra-High Net Worth (UHNW) and entrepreneur clients, and serving both their private wealth and business financial needs with an integrated model, has driven significant revenue growth.

Longer term macro trends and current market environment

We are now well positioned to take advantage of a number of macro trends which we believe will remain supportive over the long term. We believe that global wealth will continue to grow, with UHNW and HNW being the most attractive segments in wealth management, particularly where entrepreneurs require an integrated approach, leveraging our full suite of investment banking solutions to meet their private wealth and business needs. Both emerging and mature markets have attractive growth dynamics, while industry-wide trading revenue pools continue to decline.

Given the current challenging market environment, we will also specifically address, today, how our businesses are positioned to withstand economic and other headwinds. We will use part of the Investor Day to highlight our resilience in a number of key areas, notably the impact of markets on our Assets under Management, Global Markets’ credit exposure, Global Markets’ revenue prospects, and credit risk in our loan book, as well as the strengthening of our compliance and risk frameworks.

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