Switzerland’s second largest bank reported net income attributable to shareholders of 1.05bn Swiss francs (£740, $1.1bn) in Q1 2015 compared to 859m francs in the same period of 2014.
Higher client activity in the wealth management unit helped boost pre-tax earnings by 10%, partially offsetting lower revenues in asset management.
The overall private banking and asset management department, of which wealth management is part, posted a 3% fall in pre-tax earnings. Asset Management’s pre-tax earnings fell 49%.
“Wealth management clients generated a particularly strong result, with improved margins, increased profitability and good net asset inflows from key growth regions,” said out-going chief executive Brady Dougan, who steps down at the end of June.
The Wealth management clients unit contributed net new assets of 7bn francs with strong inflows from Asia Pacific, the Americas and Switzerland.
It reported a net margin of 30 basis points while its year-on-year net margin increased by one basis point, reflecting higher revenues and lower expenses.
The bank said that compared to the fourth quarter of 2014, the net margin improved by three basis points, benefiting from a fall in average assets under management, largely due to the foreign exchange impact.
Switzerland’s central bank unexpectedly scrapped a three-year-old currency cap earlier this year, which created massive currency volatility at the time.
Credit Suisse also said that in light of the evolving digital landscape, it planned to expand its private banking platform, which has already been launched in Singapore, to make it even more accessible to clients.
