ZURICH, Reuters -Credit Suisse flagged Tuesday approximately 500m Swiss francs (or $546 million) of litigation provisions. The company said the combination of a goodwill hit and these legal provisions would virtually wipe out its fourth quarter pre-tax profit.

“ Credit Suisse (SIX) Group…today announced the negative impact of litigation provisions of approximately CHF500 million on reported profits for quarter four 2021, partially offset by real estate sales gains of CHF225 million,” said the bankrupt lender. The legal hit primarily relates to the settlement of legacy case from its investment banking division.

It stated that when combined with other charges it would result in either a pre-tax income reported or a loss of approximately breakeven for the fourth quarter.

Credit Suisse is trying to erase negative headlines from its history and to reform its risk management culture. This effort was hampered by the sudden departure of the Chairman, who had been appointed nine months ago to oversee that change.

In November, Switzerland’s 2nd-largest lender announced that it would reduce its number of investment bankers. It will also use the money to help the rich. This is in response to a culture of freewheeling behavior which has led to a series of scandals and cost the company billions.

At the time, it stated that it would take a 1.6 million franc impairment on the fourth quarter’s remaining investment bank-related goodwill.

It stated Tuesday that the slowdown of transaction-based revenue would affect its investment bank.

The lender stated that “Combined with our reduction in overall risk appetite and our decision to substantially leave our prime service business, this has led to a loss in the Investment Bank Division for the fourth quarter (2021) (before the goodwill impairment).”

According to the company, its core wealth management business, which it had been trying hard to stabilize, will also suffer from a slowdown of transactions. This would result in “modestly negatively” net assets for these businesses. However, this is more than compensated by “inflows into our Asset Management business.”

($1 = 0.9159 Swiss francs)