Credit Suisse to cut deeper

Credit Suisse, Switzerland's second-biggest bank, said on Wednesday it was stepping up its cost cutting drive as market turbulence would crimp the performance of its wealth management units.

The bank said it now aims to make 4.2 billion Swiss francs (3.8 billion euros, $4.2 billion) in savings by the end of 2018, up from it previous target of 3.8 billion.

It said it aims to reduce operational costs to 17 billion Swiss francs by 2018, instead of 18 billion.

Credit Suisse has been undergoing a massive cost-cutting programme since Tidjane Thiam, a former insurer, took the helm in October last year.

It shook up its structure, pivoting away from risky investment banking towards wealth management.

But the bank lowered the earnings target for its wealth management unit, saying "we have seen major changes in the market environment and political outlook, which have negatively impacted the market-dependent portion of our targets."

It now expects the international wealth management unit to earn 1.8 billion Swiss francs in 2018, down from its earlier target of 2.1 billion, due to lower commissions on asset management.

The target for the Asia-Pacific unit was cut to 1.6 billion Swiss francs from 2.1 billion, although this was due to lower expected activity in investment banking rather than wealth management.

Credit Suisse plans to put more emphasis on the growing Asian Pacific markets.

Shares in Credit Suisse shot up 4.5 percent in early trading, while the Swiss SMI index was up 0.9 percent overall.