Credit Suisse on Thursday reported a fourth-quarter loss of 2 billion Swiss francs ($2.2 billion) as the top-drawer Swiss bank wrapped up “a year of challenges” marked by bad bets on a hedge fund, set asides for legal costs and accounting changes due to its acquisition of a U.S. investment bank over 20 years ago.
The Zurich-based bank, the second largest in Switzerland's active financial sector after rival UBS said revenue in the fourth quarter fell 12%, to 4.6 billion francs, compared with a year earlier. It posted a pre-tax loss of 1.6 billion francs stemming in large part to goodwill linked to its acquisition of the Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette investment bank in 2000.
