Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse says its first quarter net profit has taken a heavy hit as its investment bank reeled from slumping trading in bonds.
The bank, the second-biggest in Switzerland after UBS, is facing a US probe over past practices of helping wealthy Americans dodge the US taxman.
It said on Wednesday its net profit plunged by 34 per cent year-on-year to 859 million Swiss francs ($A1.05 billion).
This number fell far short of the expectations of analysts polled by the AWP financial news agency, who had anticipated that Credit Suisse would report a net profit of 1.08 billion during the quarter.
Before taxes, the bank meanwhile made a 1.4-billion-franc profit, down 22 per cent from the figure for the same quarter a year ago.
Following the news, the bank saw its stock price slide nearly two per cent to 27.28 francs a pop in midday trading on the Swiss stock exchange, whose main SMI index rose 0.53 per cent.
Credit Suisse's struggles were largely attributed to its investment bank, which saw its pre-tax profit plummet 36 per cent to 827 million Swiss francs, "amid challenging market conditions," it said.
A 21-per cent year-on-year slump in its bond-trading activities contributed to a large portion of that fall, but its stock-trading business also fell 8.0 per cent.
