Credit Suisse reported a fourth-quarter profit that missed estimates as it booked reorganisation costs and a charge related to its own debt.

Net income was 397 million Swiss francs (€322 million), compared with a loss of 637 million francs a year earlier.

Earnings fell short of the 647.6 million-franc mean estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Chief executive officer Brady Dougan increased the bank's cost-cutting program by 400 million francs by the end of 2015 following 4 billion francs in planned reductions announced since 2011.

"2012 was a year of transition," Mr Dougan said in the company's statement.

"We took significant steps to adapt our businesses and our organisation to new regulatory requirements, changing client demands and the current market environment."

Credit Suisse rose 59 per cent to 27 francs in Swiss trading over the past six months, compared with a 26 per cent gain in the Bloomberg Europe Banks and Financial Services Index, which tracks 40 companies.

The bank proposed to pay 10 centimes in cash and 65 centimes in shares as its dividend for 2012 after letting shareholders choose the previous year whether they wanted 75 centimes a share in cash or in stock to help the company build up capital ratios.

Mr Dougan foresees a "material distribution of capital" once the bank meets its target for a capital ratio under Swiss standards of 10 per cent, he said in the interview.

The ratio stood at 9.4 per cent at the end of 2012 and the company intends to meet the goal in the middle of this year.

Credit Suisse reaffirmed in November its commitment to a fully-fledged investment bank after UBS AG, the biggest Swiss bank, said it would cut 10,000 jobs and shrink debt trading to focus on money management.

UBS earlier this week posted a net loss of 1.89 billion francs after booking a fine for trying to rig global interest rates and costs tied to the reorganisation.

Pre-tax earnings at Credit Suisse's investment bank amounted to 298 million francs in the quarter, compared with a loss of 1.43 billion francs a year earlier.

A rebound in financial markets would help the company boost earnings this year, Morgan Stanley analysts said.

Bloomberg