Credit Suisse appointed the management for its Swiss bank unit – set to be hived off this weekend – finews.asia reports exclusively. A key veteran investment banker for the Swiss bank is not part of top management.
Zurich-based Credit Suisse is poised to this weekend peel off SUB, its Swiss bank unit, which employs 6,600 staff and is led by long-time investment banker Thomas Gottstein.The unit is being separated in a restructuring under overall CEO Tidjane Thiam, who wants to list a minority stake in the unit from next year, in part because it translates to much-needed capital for the bank.
With a stellar cost-income-ratio of 61.3 percent and juicier profits than the wider bank, the Swiss unit is a jewel. Gottstein is seeking to copy a strategy Credit Suisse has used successfully in Asia of positioning itself as a bank for entrepreneurs, meaning to do more types of business with a single client.
Investment Banker Illy Left Out
On Wednesday, Gottstein revealed the organization setup of the Swiss unit, and the executives who will lead it from Jan. 1 as follows, finews.com has learned:
- Private and wealth management clients: Serge Fehr (unchanged)
- Premium clients: Felix Baumgartner (unchanged)
- Corporate and investment banking: Didier Denat
- Institutional clients: Andre Helfenstein
- Sales and trading services: Urs Beeler (unchanged)
- Products and investment services: Florence Schnydrig-Moser
The most notable change in Gottstein’s setup is that his one-time mentor and boss, Marco Illy, is out of a management job.
Illy, the face of Credit Suisse’s successful investment banking franchise in Switzerland and a veteran corporate dealmaker, will give up the operative responsibility for the business, but remain with the Swiss bank as a chairman of the wider corporate and investment banking unit under Denat and advisor to key clients.
Solution Partners Buried
Gottstein wants to deepen links and cooperation between corporate client bankers and investment bankers. Credit Suisse confirmed changes to finews.com.
He will also represent Credit Suisse as a board member in companies where the bank own stakes. Illy will continue to report to Gottstein, as he does now.
The existing solution partners unit, which has been led by Denat since January, will be done away with, and teams in this area subsumed mainly under Schnydrig-Moser's products area or Baumgartner's premium clients unit, which caters to the ultra-rich. The unit custom-makes sophisticated financial products for Credit Suisse’s wealthiest clientele.
Become More Efficient, Target Clients, Hunt Growth
Reto Hossli will be responsible for external asset managers and report to Helfenstein, but won't be part of top management.
The setup is attempt to become more efficient and to more closely align with clients and chase growth opportunities. Gottstein had already made other key appointments, such as poaching Dagmar Maria Kamber Borens from UBS as the unit's operating chief, as finews.asia reported previously.
