The crisis in global lending markets has hit banks worldwide

Net profit in the three months to the end of December was 1.33bn Swiss francs ($1.21bn, �619m), a slightly worse performance than analysts expected.

But the bank said losses on sub-prime investments were 2bn Swiss francs last year, less than it originally expected.

Credit Suisse has been relatively unscathed by the sub-prime crisis.

Mixed picture

Swiss rival UBS reported $18.4bn in losses last year on investments related to US sub-prime mortgages, and the problems meant it reported a full-year loss of 4.4bn Swiss francs.

Credit Suisse reported a full-year net income of 8.5bn Swiss francs, down 25% compared with 2006.

Analysts said there was some surprise at the loss reported by Credit Suisse's asset management business during the final quarter.

It manages investments for governments, businesses and private individuals.

But its private banking business, which gives financial advice to very wealthy clients, did well.

"Private banking was a very good performance but it is disappointing to see a loss in asset management," said Andreas Weese at UniCredit.

Credit Suisse proposed raising its dividend to 2.5 Swiss francs per share.