Two Credit Suisse top executives stand out in CEO Tidjane Thiam’s successful restructuring of the Swiss bank.
High expectations of Tidjane Thiam when he took the top Credit Suisse job in 2015 have evaporated: at that time, he wanted to double annual pre-tax profit to 10 billion Swiss francs ($9.93 billion).
In fact, profits before taxes have remained largely steady. The number edged from 4.3 billion francs to 5.4 billion francs in the period.
Two bankers stick out as Thiam’s overachievers: finance chief David Mathers, one of the few top «holdover» executives from the previous era, wound down a «bad bank» of undesirable assets in record time.
Exceeding Targets
Mathers hit the targets for Credit Suisse's so-called strategic resolution unit – and then some, according to fourth-quarter slides prepared by the bank. Credit Suisse predicts a loss of roughly 500 million francs this year for the unit, which consists of businesses the bank has opted out of.
Of the Credit Suisse bankers overseeing business divisions, private bank head Iqbal Khan was the only one to hit targets. Stripping out costs from asset management disposals and restructuring, Khan beat Thiam's benchmark goal by 10 million francs.
In contrast, the trading arm under Brian Chin only hit 85 percent of its income target. Credit Suisse's investment banking division led by Jim Amine and Asia banker Helman Sitohang missed their targets.
The Swiss unit, the biggest contributor to pre-tax profit in absolute terms, missed its goal by 95 million francs. In defense of Thomas Gottstein, the Swiss bank's boss, the unit is the only one which didn't walk back its 2015 targets in the years since installing them.
Return Lags UBS
The conclusion of Thiam's restructuring doesn't mark the end of the Swiss bank's problems. To be sure, the bank has shifted more weight towards its wealth management arm under Khan and Sitohang in Asia, and slashed its spending.
However, Credit Suisse is still only returning 4.8 percent on its equity – this pales in comparison to crosstown rival UBS, which is at 9.3 percent. To propel Credit Suisse's shares higher, Thiam needs to find a way to juice up income. Until now, his focus has been on cutting costs, a metric that is far easier to control than growth.
