Credit Suisse is hiring a high-profile banker for its U.S.-based leveraged lending business, finews.com has learned. Lending to heavily-indebted companies is one of few investment banking businesses the Swiss bank is still investing in amid a scale-back of riskier activities.

The Zurich-based bank is hiring Matt DeFusco (pictured below) as a managing director in leveraged finance, according to a memo seen by finews.com. DeFusco is a veteran Goldman Sachs banker, where he is currently head of U.S. leveraged finance origination as well as technology, media and telecom leveraged lending.

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Credit Suisse confirmed the contents of the memo.

Aggressively Protected

The Swiss bank has moved aggressively to protect its leveraged finance franchise from being pillaged by rivals. The business is one of a handful of investment banking activities that are shielded from CEO Tidjane Thiam's paring back of riskier securities business in a wide-ranging restructuring.

DeFusco's hire was disclosed in a memo from Jonathan Moneypenny, who runs Credit Suisse's capital market loans, and Marc Warm, head of U.S. high yield capital markets. Moneypenny was one of several bankers who the Swiss bank was able to prevent from defecting last month.

«Highly regarded by both clients and peers, Matt’s 23-year career in Leverage Finance brings a depth of knowledge and experience to our business as we continue to invest in our market leading franchise," the two said of DeFusco's hire.