The bank last month posted its third straight annual loss but was upbeat on prospects for 2018 as it enters the last leg of Thiam's three-year overhaul, which has drawn criticism from activist investor Rudolf Bohli.

"It is a privilege to be at the helm of Credit Suisse – I am here to stay," he said in reply to a question on how he imagined Switzerland's second-biggest bank five years from now.

(Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz; Editing by David Goodman)