The bank is accelerating cost reduction, increasing its 2018 cost-cutting target to at least SFr4.3 billion, taking the bank’s “absolute operating cost base” below SFr18 billion ($18.4 billion) by 2018, Tidjane Thiam said. For 2016, it aims to achieve savings of SFr1.7 billion.

has quickened the pace of cost savings in the first half of this year; so far, it has unveiled a headcount reduction of 6,000, of which 2,800 have been put into action since the start of the year.

(To see the results announcement for 2015, see here.)

The bank has restructured business divisions, creating a standalone Swiss universal bank, in a bid to reduce risk exposures, cut costs and focus on hoped-for growth in regions such as Asia.

Referring to the bank’s global markets activities, Thiam said its mix of a high and inflexible cost base, exposure to illiquid inventory in fixed income, historically low levels of client activity and challenging market conditions has led to “disappointing financial results”.

“In this context, we have taken immediate action to reduce outsized positions in activities not consistent with our new strategy and systematically reduced our exposures. Write-downs were $633 million in 4Q15 and were lower in 1Q16 at $346 million as of 11 March, 2016. Revenues have remained weak in the period, with negative operational leverage,” he said.

“Our reconfigured global markets activities will consume less capital and produce more stable earnings with a more fee-based, client-driven model. We are reducing our RWA of SFr3.6 billion, SFr7.1 billion and SFr4.5 billion, respectively, year to date,” he said.