Statement from CS CEO:
Credit Suisse Has No Plans to Sell Shares, CEO Dougan Says
By Matthias Wabl - Jun 17, 2012 3:08 AM PT
Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) has no plans to sell shares, Chief Executive Officer Brady Dougan said after a central bank report called for a âmarked increaseâ in capital this year.
The bank may continue to offer owners stock rather than cash as dividends to boost equity, Dougan told SonntagsZeitung, saying heâs âdisappointedâ by the Swiss National Bank (SNBN) report as the capital calculation is incomplete. Marc Dosch, a spokesman for Credit Suisse in Zurich, confirmed the remarks.
Enlarge image Credit Suisse CEO Brady Dougan
Credit Suisse Group AG Chief Executive Officer Brady Dougan said he is confident the bank can achieve profit targets and will earn enough in coming quarters to boost capital. Photographer: Gianluca Colla/Bloomberg
The Swiss government, the SNB and the market regulator are stepping up efforts to make the countryâs biggest banks prepared in the event that the European debt crisis worsens. The SNB on June 14 singled out Credit Suisse as needing a bigger capital boost than larger rival UBS AG (UBSN), and put a timeframe on its recommendation. Credit Suisse shares fell 11 percent that day.
When asked how long he plans to stay as CEO, Dougan said heâs committed to his responsibilities. While thereâs âalways pressure from the board,â cooperation is âvery close and good, and weâre holding very intense discussions,â he said.
Credit Suisse is one of the âsafest banks,â and the central bank didnât take into account 6 billion Swiss francs ($6.3 billion) of convertible securities when calculating its capital ratios, Dougan said. That would have given a ratio of 7.9 percent rather than 5.9 percent, he said. âTechnically,â the securities will be issued in 2013, according to the CEO.
Capital Boost
Dougan is confident the bank can achieve profit targets and will earn enough in coming quarters to boost capital, he said. His different assessment from the central bank may be partly explained by a âvery pessimistic scenario about the debt crisisâ in the SNB stability report, he said.
âThe SNB report unsettled customers and market participants. Thatâs not only bad for us, but for the entire financial center,â according to Dougan. Credit Suisse has the highest capital ratio among its peers and its liquidity is âvery good,â he said.
The government and the central bank had to prop up UBS in 2008 by letting it spin off risky assets into an SNB-sponsored fund. Credit Suisse didnât need any support from the tax payer throughout the crisis.
UBSâs writedowns and losses from the crisis totaled more than $57 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Its losses amounted to more than 3 percent of the net balance-sheet total, the SNB said June 14, while loss-absorbing capital made up about 1.7 percent of total assets at Credit Suisse and 2.7 percent at UBS at the end of March.