Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse beat expectations with a jump in quarterly profits thanks in part to a rebound in part of its trading operations. The 45 percent rise in second quarter profits to 937 Swiss francs ($946 million, 848 million euros) came as revenues held steady at 5.5 billion. The results easily beat the analyst consensus of 740 million Swiss francs in net profits on 5.2 billion in revenue compiled by Swiss financial news agency AWP. Its merchant banking operations saw their revenues grow by 9 percent thanks in large part to bond trading, with pre-tax profits soaring 141 percent to 357 million Swiss francs.
However revenues at its investment banking unit slumped, mostly due to a drop in advising clients on mergers and acquisitions, "The division's net revenues for the quarter were down 30 percent year on year, driven by lower client activity as investor concerns lingered over global trade negotiations and slowing GDP growth," the bank said in its earnings statement. Pre-tax profits in the unit plunged 95 percent to 6 million Swiss francs.
But the revenue and earnings were an improvement on the first quarter of this year. The bank was cautious about the outlook. "We expect global GDP to show continued positive growth for the balance of the year, albeit at lower levels than previously expected, with market sentiment continuing to be impacted by geopolitical uncertainty and punctuated by periods of lower client activity," it said.