By Lisa Jucca
ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss bank Credit Suisse
In an update on its fourth-quarter performance to the end of November, the bank said the loss, primarily in investment banking, where most of the job cuts will fall, was due to adverse market conditions and risk reduction.
In addition, it will take a restructuring charge of 900 million Swiss francs, mostly in the fourth quarter.
"Investment banking had a significant pretax loss, reflecting the challenging conditions in the financial markets in the quarter and the costs associated with risk reduction," the bank said in a statement.
"We should have expected this. The Credit Suisse stock was already indicating something, as it performed significantly worse recently than UBS," said a trader.
Traders say investors are looking more critically at Credit Suisse since the Swiss state bailed out rival UBS
When the rescue package for UBS was announced in October, Credit Suisse said it did not need government help.
JOB CUTS
Credit Suisse said most of the job cuts, representing 11 percent of its total headcount of 50,300, would take place by the end of the first half of 2009 and would be implemented "across all divisions throughout the bank".
The investment banking business will bear two thirds of the cuts, bringing its staff to 17,500 by the end of 2009 from 21,300 at the end of the third quarter.
The cuts, along with other measures, should save 2 billion Swiss francs, or about 9 percent of the cost base.
In addition it said it would axe 1,400 contractors.
It has already cut 1,800 jobs this year and said this week it would cut 650 investment banking jobs in Britain. A source at the bank also said on Wednesday it would axe another 170 jobs in Asia.
UBS said in October it was cutting another 2,000 jobs at its investment bank, in addition to 4,100 positions it cut earlier in the year, to reduce the unit's workforce by about a quarter to 17,000, and its total headcount to under 80,000.
On the brighter side, Credit Suisse said in November alone it was modestly profitable, and it also said its private banking segment was still seeing asset inflows and had hired 370 relationship managers this year.
Shares in Credit Suisse have lost nearly 30 percent in a month, including 9 percent on Wednesday, and are indicated to open down 3.4 percent on Thursday.
"For a long time it looked like Credit Suisse was Mr Clean as far as the credit and finance crisis was concerned, but the latest market turbulence has shown that both of the major (Swiss) banks are affected," a trader said.
(Editing by Will Waterman)
