SWITZERLAND - Credit Suisse’s pensions and life division swung to a net operating loss of 1.5 billion Swiss francs in the first nine months of 2002 – which the Swiss banking group attibuted to a 3.0 billion franc decline in investment income.

CS, which via its Credit Suisse Asset Mangement arm controls 84.8 billion euros in European pension fund investments, said in a statement accompanying its third quarter results that its “life and pensions segment” reported a net operating loss before minority interests of 1.5 billion francs, compared to a net operating profit before minority interests of 500 million francs in the same period in 2001.

“This result reflects a 3.0 billion franc decline in investment income compared with the first nine months of 2001,” CS said.

The bank as a whole saw its total assets under management decline by 5% to of 1,221.8 billion francs from the end of June to the end of September 2002. Overall, it reported a net loss of 2.1 billion francs in the third quarter.