On 26 April Switzerland’s second biggest bank Credit Suisse reports a first quarter net income of CHF 596bn, reversing a CHF 302m loss a year earlier. This appears to be part of a trend of European banks getting back on a road of recovery. Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam among others announced that he intends to raise CHF 14bn through a rights issue – granting shareholders a chance to buy new shares at a discount to the current trading price. This could lift the banks’ ratio of common equity to risk-weighted assets from 11,7% to 13,4%. The CEO is also driving an increasing focus on Asia where Credit Suisse seeks to serve both business and newly rich families through its corporate, investment banking and wealth management services. In the past year its Asian wealth management business has had profits rising by two thirds.
