Credit Suisse is investing a three-digit million sum in a Swiss offensive. The Swiss bank plans to open a new unit for clients with run-of-the-mill needs.

Credit Suisse said it is scaling up for increasing competition in its home market: the Swiss bank plans to spend a three-digit million Swiss franc sum over the next three years, it said in a statement on Monday. The investment is primarily for various digital measures, but also for advisers, and to ramp up marketing and sponsoring.

Part of the Zurich-based lender's push is a direct banking unit, which will be led by technology veteran Mario Crameri, effective on Monday. He will oversee 500 staff in the unit, which is targeted towards retail and corporate clients mainly in plain-vanilla banking products. The unit, to which 60,000 clients have been assigned, will lean on digital offerings to complement personal advice.

Split Out Investment Bank

The efforts in Switzerland, which is overseen by long-standing investment banker Thomas Gottstein, come alongside other changes in personnel: Credit Suisse's investment bank will be split out and report directly to Gottstein. Jens Haas, who previously reported to corporate banking boss Didier Denat, is to remain head of the securities unit

«The new business area is our response to the significant changes in the market environment in recent years,» Swiss CEO Gottstein said in a statement. «Maintaining the status quo was not an option – not least because we believe that the achievement of long-term success will not depend on having the biggest branch network in the future.»

Healthier Swiss Business

Since taking the top Swiss job in 2015, Gottstein has trimmed the unit and lifted revenue. The healthier state of the so-called Swiss universal bank, or SUB, allows for substantial investments in new business, the bank said.

The unit's «ambition» – not to say target – is a cost-income ratio of less than 60 percent (it was at 55 percent in the second quarter) and a return on regulatory capital of more than 18 percent (the measure stood at 20.1 percent). The new Swiss structure means that information technology and operations will be led separately, by Kirsten Renner and Daniel Eggenschwiler. Both will report to SUB operating chief Robert Wagner.