March 14 (UPI) — Credit Suisse released its 2022 annual report on Tuesday in which it described a “material weakness” in its financial reporting that could result in “misstatements of account balances or disclosures.”
The Swiss lender said these misstatements could affect its 2021 annual repor,t as well. Credit Suisse was scheduled to release the annual report on Thursday but was delayed due to a call from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, CNBC reports.
“As a consequence, the statutory auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers AG (PwC) has noted that Credit Suisse AG did not design and maintain an effective risk assessment process to identify and analyze the risk of material misstatements in its financial statements within this system,” Credit Suisse’s report reads.
The bank reports “significantly higher withdrawals of cash deposits” combined with more non-renewals of maturing deposits early in the fourth quarter of 2022. It said this stabilized by the end of the quarter but had not completely reversed. It confirmed an earlier report that it suffered an $8 billion annual net loss in 2022.
CNN writes that 2022 was the bank’s “worst annual performance since the global financial crisis,” in 2007 to 2009. Because of this, the company reduced its employee bonuses by half and did not give bonuses to its executives.
In October, Credit Suisse paid down its debts with a $3 billion debt buyback in an effort to demonstrate stability to its client base. Shares in the company rebounded following the move, but the business remained in flux under an aggressive restructuring. About 9,000 jobs are planned to be cut by 2025 as the company shifts its focus to wealth management, according to CNN.
Shares of Credit Suisse fell to an all-time low of $2.47 midday on Tuesday before closing down 1.18% at $2.51.
