Switzerland’s second-biggest bank Credit Suisse Group (NYSE:CS) has recently unveiled a plan to add nearly 500 million francs or $509 million in 2012 by selling real estate, a step towards raising capital by 15.3 billion francs.
Credit Suisse provided a statement today revealing that the lender is involved in talks to sell two major properties and an anonymous amount of smaller buildings to investors. The Zurich- based bank plans to sell additional real estate in 2013 and also in 2014, according to a presentation to shareholders.
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Marc Dosch, who is a spokesman for Credit Suisse, has refused to provide any comment on the real estate sales beyond the statement. European banks are putting forth efforts to sell real estate in order to meet tough capital requirements. Credit Suisse is trying to strengthen its balance sheet after the Swiss central bank said last month that it required a marked increase in capital.
Earlier this year, Credit Suisse had sold its London headquarters to Qatar Investment Authority without disclosing the amount, according to a statement at the time by a unit of the sovereign-wealth fund.
In other news, U.S. Bancorp’s (NYSE:USB) wholesale banking and commercial real estate reported an increase of 21 percent in income to $330 million. With the release of the latest financial results, the top performer in the KBW Bank Index for the past 12 months remained successful in posting its 11th straight year-over-year increase in quarterly earnings as revenue moved up and the provision for bad debts fell.
The Minneapolis-based bank’s earnings jumped 18 percent to $1.42 billion or 71 cents a share for the second quarter, compared with $1.2 billion or 60 cents in the same quarter of 2011. That surpasses the mean forecast of 70 cents from 31 analysts polled by Bloomberg.
Second-quarter revenue advanced 8.1 percent to $5.07 billion as compared to a year earlier, mainly due to 6.6 percent growth in net interest income and 9.7 percent growth in noninterest income. The mortgage banking division generated revenue of $490 million that was more than double the $239 million of last year.
On a year-over-year basis, U.S. Bancorp had raised earnings every period since the middle of 2009, a record that even beats JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), and by the end of 2011, earnings had grown sequentially for eight straight quarters.
On Monday, Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) reported a second-quarter earnings fall of 12% as compared to a year earlier with a drop in revenue and a smaller benefit from releasing reserves set aside for losses from defaulting loans.