Credit Suisse’s management and employees in Switzerland have reached a final agreement to raise the aggregate salary sum by 0.5 per cent for individual and performance-related pay rises next year, the Zurich-listed bank said yesterday.

“This provision applies to employees in Switzerland who are subject to the Agreement on Conditions of Employment for Bank Staff, up to and including those at Assistant Vice President level,” the bank said in a statement on its website.

The agreement compares with the salary increases negotiated in previous years of 0.5 per cent for 2012 and 1.5 per cent for 2011, Credit Suisse said.

The agreement comes at a time when the bank, like some of its Swiss and international peers, has been moving to curb costs, and also reduce risk exposures in its investment banking arm.

In its 25 October quarterly results statement, Credit Suisse said it expected cost reductions to exceed SFr3 billion in the 2013 financial year and targeted longer term cuts for 2014 and 2015, producing a total cost “run rate reduction of SFr4 billion versus an adjusted annualised first-half 2011 run rate.