Reports
Report Says Credit Suisse Efficiency Drive Means Departure, Cuts In 50 Countries
Credit Suisse’s efficiency measures designed to save SFr150
million ($164.5 billion) in costs in its wealth business in the
second half of
2013 will see the bank exit or partly leave 50 countries, a Swiss
newspaper
said.
Swiss newspaper Tages
Anzeiger reported that the move will affect countries such
as Angola, Turkmenistan
and Belarus.
In other markets including Denmark
and Israel,
Credit Suisse will focus on clients with balances over SFr1.0
million,
excluding less wealthy customers.
A spokesperson for the Zurich-listed bank told
WealthBriefing that the firm’s push for cost savings has
been announced for
some time, although not all the specific details have been
listed. In its second-quarter results, announced in July, the
bank announced
it wanted to exit from a number of small, non-core markets, as
well as
streamline its Swiss coverage model.
Credit Suisse
is not the only bank consolidating some of its
global presence to curb costs and keep cost/efficiency ratios in
check. As
described to this publication this week, Barclays’ wealth and
investment arm is
reviewing its current roster of 17 booking centres and
rationalising its
cross-border business. HSBC, meanwhile, has also been
restructuring its
business lines and to boost profitability by concentrating on
core markets. The industry has also seen firms such as Bank of
America and Morgan Stanley sell some foreign business holdings
due to a failure to achieve the necessary critical mass of
business, triggering M&A activity.
In the second quarter of 2013, Credit Suisse’s wealth
management clients business logged net revenues of SFr2.337
billion, up from
SFr2.232 billion in the previous quarter. Total operating
expenses were
SFr1.788 billion, up from SFr1.702 billion in the first quarter
of the year. It
logged net new assets of SFr7.5 billion in the second quarter.
The firm made a gross margin, in basis points, on wealth
management of 111 bps, up from 109 bps in Q1.
On its private banking and wealth management division
overall, the bank logged net revenues of SFr3.424 billion in Q2
of this year,
up from SFr3.285 billion in the previous three months.
