Credit Suisse Group (NYSE:CS) zipped higher in pre-market trade after the Swiss bank posted a 57% leap in first-quarter profits.
The company, which is in the third year of a restructuring plan under Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam, reported a pre-tax income of US$1.1bn (1.1bn Swiss francs) in the opening three months of 2018, better than the US$1bn Wall Street had been expecting.
Net profit attributable to shareholders rose 16% year-on-year to US$705mln (694mln Swiss francs).
The results marked the sixth consecutive quarter of year-on-year profit growth under Thiam, while the quarterly adjusted pre-tax income was the highest for 11 quarters.
The strong performance was underpinned by growth in its wealth management business which is what Credit Suisse has been pivoting towards as it moves away from volatile trading activities.
Excluding investment banking and capital markets, all divisions posted higher-than-expected adjusted pre-tax profits.
Asia Pacific was a particularly profitable territory for Credit Suisse as Asia continues to create record numbers of super-rich individuals. Profits in that business surged by 59% to US$238mln (234mln Swiss francs).
“With these first-quarter results, we got off to a good start in our third and final year of restructuring, and we are looking ahead to the future with confidence in our new business model and in our execution capabilities,” said CEO Thiam.
“Thanks to the progress made in 2016 and 2017, we are nearing pre-restructuring levels of absolute profit, with a higher quality, more capital-efficient business mix that can generate growing amounts of capital organically with higher capital velocity and a higher return on capital through the cycle, while consuming less risk capital per unit of income.”
Before the opening bell in New York, the stock was up 5.3% to US$16.29.