Credit Suisse is eyeing expansion into Canada, according to Anthony DeChellis, the Swiss bank's private banking chief executive for the Americas.

"Eventually, we're going into Canada,” Mr DeChellis said in an interview with Reuters. “If we didn't have the market downturn, I would have expected to be in Canada by now.”

The bank would consider both acquisitions and lift-outs of advisor teams in Canada, he said, adding that Credit Suisse also wants to expand its advisory force in the US. The private bank unit has about 400 advisors in the US now and wants to add another 300 over time,  Mr DeChellis told the publication.

But Credit Suisse has no desire to open a brokerage unit, he said.

"The reason we haven't tried to buy a broker-dealer, or replicate a big broker-dealer, is we think it's a dying business model," the chief executive told Reuters. "It won't be gone tomorrow, but it's a model that is significantly challenged."

Credit Suisse wants to concentrate on clients with  over $10 million in investable assets, said Mr DeChellis. He also said that the average Credit Suisse advisor generates more than $1 million of revenue per year.