French banks are coming under increased investor pressure to shrink their extensive branch networks and move customers on to their digital platforms as part of a drive to cut costs, reports the Financial Times. First mover has been Société Générale, which promised late last year to close 20 per cent of its branches by 2020, breaking a long held French taboo against announcing big cuts in a country where banks are expected to be good corporate citizens. Credit Suisse has vowed to take more drastic action on costs after reporting worse than expected fourth-quarter results last week that sent the bank's shares to a 24-year low, down 13 per cent, as investors also digested a deterioration in the bank's capital position and a gloomy outlook, FT.com reports.  Cost cuts included an 11 per cent reduction of Credit Suisse's bonus pool after the bank lost SFr2.4 billion, compared with a SFr3.6 billion profit in 2014. Tidjane Thiam, chief executive of Credit Suisse, has asked the bank's board to slash his 2015 bonus by between 25 and 50 per cent. The €500 note, $100 bill and £50 note are rarely found in the average consumer's wallet in today's world of easy digital payments and "contactless" bank cards". So, by taking such high-denomination banknotes out of circulation, governments could make life harder for criminals, argues Peter Sands, former chief executive of UK-based Standard Chartered bank, in a paper published on over the weekend, reports FT.com. "If people who work in the area of crime and antiterrorism think it is a no-brainer, then why aren't we doing it?" Sands asks.