After a profit warning only last month, Credit Suisse's full-year results on 10 February should have been boring. Instead, the beleaguered Swiss bank had more bad news.

There were the pre-announced hits in the fourth quarter: a goodwill write-down of CHF1.6bn, equivalent to $1.73bn, mostly on the acquisition of US brokerage Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette way back in 2000, and CHF436m in litigation costs related to a host of historical matters.