Credit Suisse announced first quarter net income of 1.1 billion Swiss francs ($1.26 billion), a 45 percent drop from a year ago.

The loss was partially caused by a write-down of 467 million francs on Credit Suisse’s own debt and the value of certain derivatives, which it had announced in advance of the earnings report.  Another cause was an “adverse foreign exchange impact,” the bank said. In the last year, the Swiss franc has climbed 22 percent against the dollar and 11 percent against the euro, weakening revenue gained abroad.

Credit Suisse reported record first-quarter revenue of $5.4 billion at its investment bank as a result of “continued market share momentum,” up from $5 billion in the period a year earlier. That performance, however, only translated to 5 billion francs, down from 5.3 billion francs in the period a year earlier.

Credit Suisse also reported a strong performance in wealth management, with its private banking unit posting 18 billion francs in net asset inflows, and 2.4 billion francs in net revenue for the quarter, only slightly less than the 2.5 billion francs it reported in the period a year earlier.

At its asset management unit, the bank reported net inflows of 4.5 billion francs and net revenue of 591 million francs, roughly in line with the previous two quarters.

The bank said it had a core Tier 1 ratio of 13 percent. It also revealed that its net exposure to the sovereign risk of peripheral European nations like Greece and Ireland was just 400 million euros, or $646 million.  [NY Times 4/27/11]