Credit Suisse Posts Strong Q2 Profit

The figures provide a boost for Thiam, who is expected to outline his full strategy for the bank towards the end of the year.

Since taking over July 1, Thiam has met many of Credit Suisse’s top 20 investors to talk about bulking up the banks’ asset management business and signalling that acquisitions are on the table.

Credit Suisse shares jumped as much as 7.8 percent, the biggest intraday gain since Thiam’s appointment was announced in March.

The bank’s Asia chief told Reuters Credit Suisse would consider raising headcount or buying a smaller peer to build up its private banking business, in a region where pretax profit doubled in the first half of this year. The CEO said that his new strategy should “address some of the pressures apparent” in the bank’s most recent quarterly results, while noting that its investment bank saw a decline in profit during the period because of increased costs.

The emphasis is going to be businesses which generate returns that are, “comfortably above the cost of capital”, said Thiam, adding that business lines in the investment bank will certainly be closed.

Analysts are eager to hear more, soon.

“The direction of travel is clear”, Thiam said.

The management of the bank stated that it delivered improved results amidst economic and political developments.

The profit compared to a 700 million Swiss franc loss in the same quarter last year after the Zurich-based bank was fined the largest penalty ever in a U.S. criminal tax case for aiding American tax evaders. It fell 0.6 percent in the previous session.

It cautioned, however, that financial and political uncertainty from Greek debt negotiations could continue to contribute to market volatility.

Shares in Credit Suisse were seen opening up 3.2 percent in premarket indicators. However, during a conference call with reporters, Chief Financial Officer David Mathers said that less money is flowing out than had been expected.

The results also reflects a period following the Swiss National Bank’s decision in January to let the value of the franc rise sharply.

The bank recorded a net income of 1.05 billion francs ($1.1 billion) in the second quarter.

As global regulators order lenders to hold more capital to absorb potential losses, the fixed-income trading departments of their investment banks have been among the most affected.