Despite a significant downsizing of investment banking at Credit Suisse, the Swiss unit remains intact. The market leader is holding its own, its chief executive points says in a newspaper interview.
The investment banking business of Credit Suisse in Switzerland remains untouched by the radical restructuring in the banking group, as confirmed by Jens Haas, head of investment banking Switzerland, in an interview with the French-speaking Swiss newspaper «L'Agefi» Friday (in French, paywall).
The business will continue to be integrated into the Swiss Bank division, with Haas stressing the advantages of regional integration. He said this will ensure proximity to the in-house corporate banking and asset management businesses, adding nothing will change for clients or the market by retaining a Swiss presence.
CS First Boston in Switzerland?
Switzerland's second-largest bank is undertaking a 4 billion Swiss franc ($4.2 billion) capital increase and thousands of job cuts. At the same time, the investment bank is being downsized and transferred to CS First Boston to focus on banking for high-net-worth individuals.
While collaboration with the newly formed CS First Boston will continue according to Haas, it has yet to be decided whether the CS First Boston brand will also be used in Switzerland.
Business in Swiss investment banking is presently rather sluggish. For the current financial year, Haas talks of revenues of around 700 million francs, marking a decline of 30 percent from last year.
Confidence For 2023
After a record outlier year for the industry in 2021, a decline to 2019 and 2020 levels corresponds to a return to a normal level. Overall, the IPO business suffered the most, he said.
The division has not lost any notable clients this year, Haas pointed out, and Credit Suisse remains the clear market leader in Swiss investment banking with a market share of around 13 percent, he said.
Haas was cautiously optimistic about the coming year. The main difficulty is the increased volatility in the interest rate markets. However, the market is increasingly getting used to this new normal.
Return to the Universal Bank
Haas has worked at the bank with the two sails for over two decades. He is a member of the executive committee of the new CS First Boston, which will take on some of the business that will be spun off from the institution.
From 2016 into 2021, the Swiss business had its fully-fledged investment bank, and now the model is once again based on the Swiss Universal Bank of former CEO Tidjane Thiam. The matrix organization that ex-CS President António Horta-Osório had devised for the bank is being dismantled even further.
