Credit Suisse Group posted a fourth-quarter net profit of 793 million Swiss francs ($A831.5 million) on Thursday, blaming writedowns and a hefty US legal settlement for failing to meet expectations. The results were a significant improvement from the same period the previous year, when the Swiss bank reported a net loss of 6 billion francs. Analysts had expected a quarterly net profit of 1.16 billion francs. Credit Suisse said net profit would have been 1.4 billion francs but for a 300 million francs impairment due to tightening credit spreads and a 500 million francs pretax charge to settle a US investigation into allegations it helped clients make transactions involving countries under US sanctions between 2002 and 2007. Credit Suisse didn't specify which countries were involved. The bank's chief financial officer, Renato Fassbind, said in a conference call that the case related to "the sanctions countries in general."