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How does Credit Suisse plan to outpace rivals like UBS in winning rich Chinese clientele? The Swiss bank's rising star, Francois Monnet, speaks exclusively to finews.asia.

By Shruti Advani, Guest Contributor finews.asia

Francois Monnet has been variously referred to as «Credit Suisse’s rising star» and one «to keep an eye on» by this publication and others. Some readers may well have been surprised by this: the Swiss bank's second-most powerful wealth management executive in the region is not a career private banker and hence does not have the network in Asia that most associate with an industry heavyweight.

But as any well informed industry commentator will attest to, Monnet’s worth to the bank is the discipline he has brought to the Zurich-based bank's North Asia platform as China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan head, after Credit Suisse lost some of its most senior leaders in 2015. 

«He is a numbers person rather than a people’s person», says one source at the bank, «but that is the skill set we needed– someone who could execute rather than someone who could walk the floor and build camaraderie.»

Canopy Coup 

And execute he has: Monnet's has begun making good on the bank's ambitious digital strategy, bolting on aggregating service Canopy and persuading clients to use it. By all accounts, this has been an uphill task; but the Swiss bank has delivered. «One third of clients booked in Singapore have authorized their Credit Suisse relationship manager to see an aggregated statement of all bank accounts and investments,» he says.

«So it appears that clients want to appoint a lead banker or want one banker to know more.» Is Credit Suisse positioned to assume the role of lead banker? A recent client satisfaction survey showed the bank had increased its share of wallet amongst existing clients and was the principal bank for as many as 27 percent of them.

 «Clients are increasingly sophisticated and pay attention to the breadth and depth of service a private bank can provide and also the balance sheet it can make available», Monnet says.

Boutique vs Big

What about banks unable to provide this «breadth and depth of service»? «The difference between a boutique and a business is in the strategy and although it is tempting to stay a boutique, this is no longer viable in private banking», Monnet says.