APRNEWS - Thiam, a former boss of banking giant Credit Suisse, won very comfortably with 96.5 percent of the vote against 3.2 percent for his rival Jean-Marc Yace, the mayor of a commune in the economic hub Abidjan, according to the results announced late Friday.

"It is with great humility that I accept the responsibility that you have decided to entrust to me," Thiam said.

APRNEWS - Late on Sunday afternoon, UBS, under pressure from the Swiss authorities, finally agreed to buy its rival Crédit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs. After the initial shock of the derisory emergency takeover of Crédit Suisse, a bank that was apparently worth much more, the time has come to ask questions about the future of the new entity. How will the two banking giants integrate? What will happen to Crédit Suisse's corporate and investment banking (CIB) division, the source of the problems that brought it down?

APRNEWS - Credit Suisse said Wednesday its first-quarter net profit rose by 8 percent, with its efforts to focus on wealth management helping balance out problems in investment banking.