The Swiss bank, Credit Suisse, has announced that it made a loss of more than two billion dollars in the first quarter of the year. The losses were due to problems in international credit markets. Our Economics Correspondent Andrew Walker reports:

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Credit Suisse is in good company. Its bigger rival in Switzerland, UBS, has made even larger losses in the credit markets and has twice sought extra capital - from its own shareholders and from outside investors - to make good the losses.

The British bank RBS has recently announced credit related losses of 12 billion dollars for this year. Many American banks have also been severely affected.

Andrew Walker, BBC

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profitable
bringing in (new) money

pushed Credit Suisse into the red
caused the bank to lose money

overall
taking everything into account, as a whole

financial assets
money held by the bank that contributes to its success

related to
here, caused by the crisis in; linked to

takeovers
taking control (of a company by buying most of its shares)

is in good company
is not the only well-known organisation to face these problems

sought extra capital
asked for more money

to make good
here, to compensate for

been severely affected
badly suffered

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