Investor quits Credit Suisse

ONE of Credit Suisse’s biggest shareholders has sold its entire stake in the scandalhit bank.

US investment manager Harris Associates at one stage owned 10pc of Credit Suisse – but deputy chairman David Herro said it started to cut its exposure in October after Credit Suisse raised £3.6bn from investors and when Saudi National Bank supplanted it as the top investor.

‘There is a question about the future of the franchise. There have been large outflows from wealth management,’ Herro told the Financial Times.

‘We have lots of other options to invest,’ he added. ‘Why go for something that is burning capital when the rest of the sector is now generating it?’

Credit Suisse said: ‘We are ahead of our plan and have clear strategic objectives.’

The bank, Switzerland’s second biggest, has also begun a major overhaul of its business, cutting costs and jobs to revive its fortunes, including creating a separate business for its investment bank under the CS First Boston brand.

Credit Suisse last month reported its biggest annual loss since the 2008 global financial crisis after rattled clients pulled billions from the bank.

It has warned of a further ‘substantial’ loss this year.