ANNUAL LOSS

Like its opponents, credit Suisse has been hurt with the aid of tighter regulation, and unstable worldwide markets that have decreased profitability of key funding banking commercial enterprise lines consisting of buying and selling and advisory.

Thiam's untimely hold close of trading liabilities, coupled with concerns about execution of the marketing strategy on this harder surroundings, have re-opened debate about his suitability for the turnaround role.

"it's one of the downsides in hiring someone who is probably excellent however would not have 15, twenty years experience in this commercial enterprise," stated one of the bank's institutional shareholders, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the difficulty.

"human beings had issues about that at the beginning and this (being caught out by way of the size of the trades) certainly does not assist."

regardless of presiding over the wonder writedowns and the financial institution's full-12 months loss in 8 years in 2015, some traders have given Thiam their backing.

"Now that he has made all the set-up for the brand new method, he has to carry on and that i don't assume it'd be proper to make a judgment so early," said Vincent Kaufmann, CEO of Ethos, which holds credit score Suisse inventory in an index fund.

Thiam has stated he and other senior financial institution officials have been unaware of the size of the positions at the back of the writedowns however that no trading limits were breached or trades hid.

On Feb. 4, the markets division mentioned an adjusted pre-tax loss of 658 million Swiss francs for the fourth quarter, in which it racked up $633 million in writedowns on illiquid trades, positions that aren't smooth to promote out of.

A similarly $346 million in writedowns accompanied within the first sector as of March 11, the financial institution disclosed on March 23.

a few buyers have pointed to the danger of feasible felony action in opposition to the financial institution if any shareholders agree with they have been now not accurately informed approximately the size of the illiquid buying and selling book before November's 4.7-billion Swiss franc capital-elevating.

"I do not assume credit score Suisse could be capable of pass on from this as fast as they may like. I think there's a actual chance of litigation via shareholders," guy de Blonay, fund supervisor at Jupiter Asset management (JUP.L), which manages credit score Suisse inventory.

Responding to request for comment on feasible litigation, credit score Suisse said: "we've not anything similarly to add than what we disclosed on 23 March. In connection with our capital growth in November 2015 we published a prospectus that contained all applicable records and relevant disclosures."