Net loss per share for the quarter was CHF 5.34.

The results were far worse than the CHF 3.72 billion loss analysts expected.

Switzerland’s second biggest bank said the results take its full-year net loss to CHF 8.2 billion for 2008. In early 2008 Credit Suisse reported a net profit of CHF 7.8 billion.

The investment bank accumulated a pretax loss of CHF 7.78 billion in the fourth quarter, which included reduction of value of CHF 3.19 billion. Credit Suisse said it reduced its exposure to risky assets by 87 percent between the end of the third quarter of 2007 and the start of 2009.

Asset management reported pretax losses of CHF 670 million, while private banking posted a pretax profit of CHF 876 million.

"While our full-year results are clearly disappointing, we entered 2009 with a very strong capital position, a robust business model, a clear strategy and well-positioned businesses", chief executive Brady W Dougan said in a statement.

All divisions 2009 profitably, he said.

Credit Suisse’s fourth-quarter results come a day after its rival UBS AG posted record quarterly losses of CHF 8.1 billion.

Unlike the larger bank, however, Credit Suisse did not receive a bailout offer from the Swiss government.

[AP / Expatica]