Credit Suisse First-Quarter Profit Falls

ZURICH-- Credit Suisse Group AG said Wednesday that first-quarter profit fell to 859 milion Swiss francs ($975.47 million) from the 1.3 billion francs it reported for the same period a year earlier, as net revenue fell 8% to 6.47 billion francs.

Analysts had expected the bank to report a profit of 1.13 billion francs for the period.

Zurich-based Credit Suisse, like its larger Swiss rival UBS AG, is in the process of trying to squeeze more profit from a slimmed-down operation. The bank has steadily shed assets and employees, while shuttering some businesses it deemed were too risky or not worth the costs involved.

Credit Suisse has also recently disclosed significant charges related to legal travails in the U.S., which have eaten into its 2013 results. Earlier this month the bank said it had taken a charge of 468 million francs related to an ongoing criminal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department into assistance the bank may have provided to American tax evaders.

Last month, Credit Suisse disclosed a charge of 275 million francs related to allegations made by the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency that the bank misrepresented mortgage-backed securities it sold in the run-up to the financial crisis.

Write to John Letzing at [e-mail]

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