Since it exited onshore banking in Germany, Credit Suisse has mainly been active in asset management in Europe's largest economy. Now the bank has decided to switch on its wealth management again.
When Credit Suisse in 2013 sold the private client business to Bethmann Bank, it left the lucrative banking with rich Germans mostly to its rivals.
Julius Baer for instance has pushed its expansion for years and recently opened the tenth branch in Germany. UBS consolidated the regional network and awarded Frankfurt with the headquarters of UBS Europe and the European booking platform for wealth management clients.
New Strategic Move
Credit Suisse retained a good dozen relationship managers in place, focusing on super-rich clients with 30 million euros ($34 million) or more – but booked them through Zurich.
Now however, Switzerland’s second-largest bank has revised the strategy – it will launch the business with external wealth managers, multi-family-offices, fund managers, pension funds and insurers, according to a statement by Credit Suisse Germany on Monday.
The bank said the launch in Germany was strategic. It appointed Bjoern Kogler (pictured below) to head its team in Germany. He joined the Swiss bank in the autumn from Mainfirst Bank.
Broad Selection of Services
He will seek to win clients with at least 100 million euros in assets seeking solutions out of one hand. Credit Suisse said clients would profit from its speedy procedures and the solution of all its regulatory demands.
Credit Suisse, which has regulatory approval for the bid, will acquire clients in Germany and book their assets through one of the international booking platforms.
Market Specifics
The new bid doesn’t come as a big surprise given the assets of more than 100 billion euros managed by independent wealth managers, for instance by Flossbach von Storch, Feri and DJE Kapital.
Germany also has acquired a reputation for being a lucrative market for independent wealth managers due to a substantial lack of trust in traditional banking institutes.
The country is home to more than 500 family offices and dozens of multi-family offices. The numbers are rising, not least because of the above-mentioned lack of trust.
