Net revenues for the whole of last year fell 6 per cent to SFr10.877 billion, the Zurich-listed bank said in a statement today.

“Private banking results marked by an ongoing low interest rate environment, significantly lower levels of client activity and higher expenses for legal matters and credit provisions, driven by isolated cases in both wealth management clients and corporate and institutional clients,” the bank said.

Credit Suisse also noted the moves by US authorities to crack down on Swiss banks’ old offshore business services to US clients, which has seen a number of such firms cease to provide such work in recent years.

“As reported previously, the US investigations of Swiss banks’ legacy cross-border businesses remain ongoing. This continues to be a matter that Credit Suisse together with governmental authorities is working to resolve. Credit Suisse is strongly supportive of a resolution acceptable to both the US and Switzerland. Credit Suisse continues to cooperate with the authorities both in the US and Switzerland to resolve this matter in a responsible manner that complies with its legal obligations,” it said.

The firm’s private bank logged fourth quarter net revenues of SFr2.574 million, it said. It also booked net new assets of SFr7.6 billion in the fourth quarter, mainly from emerging markets and the UHNW individual client segment, as well as from its corporate and institutional clients in Switzerland. For the year as a whole, private banking net new assets amounted to SFr44.5 billion.

Loss

For the bank as a whole, it reported a net income of SFr1.953 million in 2011, down 62 per cent on a year before. In the fourth quarter, it suffered a SFr637 million net loss, compared with a net income of SFr841 million a year before. The bank had a Basel II Tier 1 capital ratio of 15.1 per cent.

“Our performance for the fourth quarter 2011 was disappointing. It reflects both the adverse market conditions during the period and the impact of the measures we have taken to swiftly adapt our business to the evolving market and regulatory requirements,” Brady Dougan, Credit Suisse chief executive, said in the statement.

The cost of cutting the bank’s overall risk exposure took its toll, Dougan said. “The accelerated implementation of the risk reduction plan and our measures to exit businesses that are no longer expected to deliver attractive returns in the changed regulatory environment, as well as higher charges incurred due to the rapid execution of the cost reduction programmes, led to negative impact of SFr981 million in the fourth quarter of 2011,” he said.

The Wealth Management Clients business reported income before taxes of SFr284 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to income before taxes of SFr606 million a year before and a loss before taxes of SFr34 million in the third quarter of last year .

Credit Suisse agreed last autumn to pay €150 million to settle proceedings in Germany against employees investigated for allegedly helping German clients evade taxes. The bank also put aside SFr295 million for US tax matters in the third quarter.

Last year saw changes at the top of the wealth management business.  Since August, it has been headed by Hans-Ulrich Meister, who has a reputation as an aggressive cost-cutter.