While Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam has rolled backed the trading business in recent years, a new hire at the investment bank nevertheless is harboring ambitious plans for his charge.

When Mike Stewart switched from bigger rival UBS to Credit Suisse to take over the equity trading division, he didn’t do so with the intent to watch the competition steal a march. The investment bankers at Switzerland’s second-largest bank however had to mainly watch their friends and colleagues empty their desks in recent years and lose market share.

Back in 2011, Credit Suisse was the No. 3 in equity trading. At the end of 2017, it had fallen to No. 7, according to a report by «Bloomberg».

Turning the Tide

Stewart, who joined in the summer of 2017, intends to turn the tide: «We have more than sufficient resources to be a top-five equities player,» he told the news organization.

Since moving in, Stewart attracted at least 18 experienced investment bankers to his global markets division, including Mike Di Iorio, Roger Anerella and Scott Miller.

The trading division has lost at least a third of its market share since Tidjane Thiam took over at the helm of the banking giant. There are several reasons for the development, according to «Bloomberg»: the expansion in Asia hasn’t developed as intended because of a shift in market conditions, an algorithm trading team took a sales hit and a new trading unit for complex financial products didn’t do as well as expected.

More Hires to Follow

Now Stewart says he aims to move trading closer to hedge fund clients, improve the electronic trading systems and work more closely with wealth management. He also wants to focus more strongly on prime brokerage, a traditional strength of the bank.

He expects to hire more staff to turn the strategy into practice, having completed the sweeping job cuts and the restructuring of his unit. He will use his extensive network to get the best talent. Stewart was head of equity trading at UBS for more than five years. Previously he worked for Bank of America Merrill Lynch.