Brady Dougan, the chief executive of Credit Suisse, has told CNBC that the bank had a "solid performance" – despite missing analysts' profit forecasts.
"I think it was a solid performance in what has been a challenging quarter for the industry," Dougan said.
"The overall environment impacted the fixed income business, which impacted the overall results."
(Read more: Credit Suisse latest results)
The second-largest Swiss bank by market value said that its overall net profit rose to 454 million Swiss francs ($509.1 million) in the three months to September, a marked improvement on the same time in 2012, where charges linked to its own debt ate into profits. A poll of analysts had suggested that overall net profit would come in at 705 million Swiss francs.
Credit Suisse is in the middle of a cost-cutting drive designed to save 4.5 billion Swiss francs in annual costs by the end of 2015. Dougan said that the program is on track.
Its fixed-income division was dented by volatility in government bond yields, ahead of the expected announcement that the U.S. Federal Reserve would start winding down its bond-buying program in October – a move that eventually never happened.
In investment banking, the division which includes fixed-income, net revenues of 2.55 billion Swiss francs were down 20 percent compared to the same three months in 2012.
Credit Suisse also announced that it would restructure its interest rate trading activities, a move which analysts had been hoping for.
"We think a lot of the industry is going to have to go in that direction," Dougan warned.
The Credit Suisse chief executive pointed out that much of the rates business had already been moved to other parts of the company, and had been hit by regulation changes, the increased focus on leverage and market structure.
"The changes that we're making will make us more effective," he claimed.
The fourth quarter has been "a little subdued" for Credit Suisse so far, because of "some of the macro conditions," Dougan said.
(Read more: Euro zone banks under stress)
The ECB announced Wednesday that it will begin stress tests on the euro zone's banks to help strengthen the region's financial system The tests – which will not directly affect Credit Suisse – were welcomed by Dougan, saying the measures " could be something that installs more faith in the banking system generally."
- By CNBC's Carolin Roth and Catherine Boyle. Twitter:@carolincnbc and @cboylecnbc.