in the early 1900s credit suisse began catering to consumers and the middle-class with deposit counters, currency exchanges and savings accounts. the first branch outside of zürich was opened in 1905 in basel. the bank helped companies affected by world war i restructuring, and extended loans for reconstruction efforts. during the 1920s depression, net profits and dividends were halved and employees took salary cuts. after world war ii, a substantial portion of credit suisse's business was in foreign reconstruction efforts. holocaust survivors had problems trying to retrieve assets from relatives that died in concentration camps without death certificates. this led to a class action lawsuit in 1996 that settled in 2000 for $1.25 billion. the "agreement on the swiss banks' code of conduct with regard to the exercise of due diligence" was created in the 1970s, after a credit suisse branch in chiasso was exposed for illegally funneling $900 million in italian deposits to speculative investments.