Credit Suisse returns to annual profit

ZURICH: Credit Suisse on Thursday announced a return to annual net profit, which reached 6.7 billion Swiss francs in 2009, despite the impact of fourth quarter debt charges and a US fine over Iranian sanctions.

The full year net profit for the Swiss bank, equivalent to 4.6 billion euros or 6.3 billion dollars, marked a turnaround from an 8.2 billion franc loss for 2008 recorded at the height of the financial crisis.

The 2009 result was slightly below analysts expectations of average net profit of 7.2 billion francs polled by Swiss business news agency AWP.

Unlike its Swiss rival UBS, Credit Suisse said in a statement that it had attracted fresh client money, with net new assets of 6.4 billion Swiss francs.