The bank also reported a 49 percent fall in fourth-quarter net profit to 1.33 billion Swiss francs ($1.21 billion). It reduced full-year charges for bad credits to 2.0 billion francs from a previously reported 2.2 billion, due to hedging earlier in the year.
ZURICH (Reuters) - Credit Suisse <CSGN.VX> reduced total write-downs from the subprime crisis on Tuesday in dramatic contrast to rising charges by rivals, and raked in billions of new investments from wealthy clients.
The bank also reported a 49 percent fall in fourth-quarter net profit to 1.33 billion Swiss francs ($1.21 billion). It reduced full-year charges for bad credits to 2.0 billion francs from a previously reported 2.2 billion, due to hedging earlier in the year.
Credit Suisse unveiled 1.259 billion francs in write-downs on various exposures in the fourth quarter, confirming it has escaped almost unscathed from the debacle in U.S. subprime mortgages.
The bank said it was proposing an increased cash dividend of 2.50 francs per share for 2007.
!ADVERTISEMENT!The bank's key investment banking division reported a steep fall in net income to 328 million francs in the final quarter.
Net new money in wealth management was far better than expected at 12 billion Swiss francs, up from 8.6 billion francs in the fourth quarter of 2006 and compared with an average forecast in a Reuters poll of 8 billion francs.
The bank also reported a steep decline in its funded and unfunded exposures to leveraged finance to 36 billion francs from 58.6 billion francs.
The average forecast for net profit in a poll of 16 analysts was 1.45 billion francs.
Credit Suisse has suffered limited fallout from the meltdown in U.S. subprime mortgages which have set off writedowns running to more than $100 billion by banks globally.
Bank UBS <UBSN.VX>, Credit Suisse's chief rival, has taken charges of $18.4 billion so far on subprime exposures and Citigroup <C.N> and Merrill Lynch <MER.N> have also taken huge charges.
(Reporting by Andrew Hurst; Editing by Quentin Bryar)
