The troubled Swiss bank outlined what its chairman Axel Lehmann dubbed a "blueprint for success", after racking up a 4 billion Swiss franc loss in the third quarter of the year and following torrid weeks for the group. Saudi National Bank, the Kingdom's biggest lender, committed to invest up to 1.5 billion francs in Credit Suisse to achieve a shareholding of up to 9.9%. The Swiss bank said it also aims to separate out its investment bank to create CS First Boston, focused on advisory and capital markets, and hopes to attract third-party capital and set up a partnership with the new Credit Suisse. Credit Suisse said it will create a capital release unit to wind down non-strategic, higher-risk businesses, while announcing the sale of a large part of its securitised products business. Credit Suisse needs to revamp after a series of costly and morale-sapping blunders that triggered a wholesale change of management, a halt in dividend payments and an urgent rethink about its future.

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