Not many customers have closed their accounts after Credit Suisse announced that it would likely lose $1.6 billion in the final quarter of the year, according to the chief executive of the bank’s Swiss arm.

In an interview with Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung, Andre Helfenstein said that while some customers have withdrawn some of their money, “very few have actually closed their accounts”.

Earlier this month the bank issued a report that warned of a looming potential drop in profitability.

After recording a quarterly loss of £3.5 billion in September, the company said that it would undergo a major restructure which would include cutting 9,000 staff and shifting focus away from investment banking towards wealthy clientele.

Credit Suisse blamed its poor financial results on the challenging economic and market environment, as well as the combination of monetary tightening by major central banks and the ongoing geopolitical situation following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

It also attributed part of the loss to negative press and social media coverage about the bank’s potential collapse, which the bank denies.

Credit Suisse said that performance in the investment bank was “weak”, driven by what it described as extremely challenging market conditions caused by higher volatility.

Its wealth management division was also impacted by lower client activity and recurring revenues.

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