Credit Suisse to buy back up to $3bn in shares
Swiss banking group aims to appease investors after share price falls by more than a third in 2018
Credit Suisse has moved to shore up confidence among investors by launching a share buyback of up to Sf3bn ($3bn) over the next two years, as the Swiss banking giant confronts a steep drop in its share price. The Swiss banking giant will buy 1-billion to 1.5-billion francs in shares in 2019, it said on Wednesday ahead of its investor day seminar in London. It expected to buy a similar amount in 2020, subject to market conditions, and will raise its dividend 5% annually starting in 2019. Analysts said the share buyback was in line with their expectations. Wednesday’s meeting with analysts and investors came at the end of a three-year restructuring launched by CEO Tidjane Thiam, who joined the bank in mid-2015. Under the revamp, Credit Suisse geared its business toward wealth management while streamlining its investment-banking unit. After three straight annual losses until 2017 —brought on by restructuring charges, legal settlements and, in 2017, l US corporate tax changes — the bank...
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