Credit Suisse posts a loss after £2.6 billion writedown

The bank, which warned last month that it faced losses from a small group of London traders who had "mis-priced" securities they were dealing in, plus the general credit crunch malaise, said it planned to "manage its liquidity conservatively and control expenses effectively".

The bank had until now appeared less exposed to the subprime crisis than many rivals, notably its Swiss competitor UBS, which has announced writedowns of more than £19 billion.

But today Credit Suisse revealed its first quarterly loss for almost five years at Swfr2.1 billion (£1.04 billion) after writedowns on leveraged finance and structured products of Swfr5.3 billion (£2.6 billion).

Chief executive Brady Dougan said: "Our first-quarter results are clearly unsatisfactory. March was difficult. Things have stabilised in April, so we are hopeful they will continue to improve from here."

Credit Suisse has begun its latest round of job cuts with 500 posts, including 150 at its Canary Wharf offices in London, to go. That will take the total number of jobs it axed since the subprime crisis began last summer to more than 1300.

Remaining staff will also suffer as the bank said that first-quarter expenses in investment banking fell by 38% on the prior year, "due primarily to a decrease in compensation and benefits". That means bonus prospects are not good.

Today's writedowns take the total announced by the world's banks and securities firms to almost $300 billion since last summer.

Dougan said: "Credit Suisse remains well-positioned in an extremely challenging environment. Our capital position is strong."