A vacancy left by a departure at Credit Suisse's flagship business with wealthy entrepreneurs in greater Zurich didn't remain open for long, as finews.ch has learned.
Reto Leisi takes over as head of entrepreneurs & executives (E&E) for greater Zurich at Credit Suisse on February 1, according to an internal memo from Guido Niffenegger, regional head of private banking for the region, and Hans Baumgartner, head of the Swiss E&E business. The memo was made available to finews.ch.
Leisi succeeds Aaron Keller, who moved to Zurich-based private bank Rothschild & Co, along with two client advisors, as reported by finews.com Monday.
Asia and Business Jets
The executive can look back on a career of almost 20 years at Credit Suisse in corporate and private banking. Over the past six years, he has been specifically involved in building up the E&E business and has been the lead expert on numerous client transactions.
Before his current role, Leisi also gained experience in Asia and successfully developed various business lines for the bank in private jet financing.
Amidst the strategic repositioning of Credit Swiss, the Swiss division is holding on to E&E, the «Bank for Entrepreneurs.» It is the unit's flagship and will remain one of the strategic priorities in the further development of the region, the letter continued.
Challenging Business
The goal of E&E is to help local entrepreneurs with their businesses as well as with their private assets. Credit Suisse had been pushing this area in its home market in recent years, offering services at around 20 locations throughout Switzerland.
The banking business with entrepreneurs and top executives is considered demanding, requiring considerably more from employees than in traditional private banking, especially since the demands and knowledge of business executives are also much higher than those of «normal» clients.
