The lender is dividing leadership of the private bank in the region into North and South Asia segments, with the duo based in Hong Kong and Singapore, respectively.

Credit Suisse is appointing two of its most senior figures to head up its private banking operations, replacing Francesco de Ferrari, head of private banking for Asia-Pacific and chief executive for Southeast Asia and frontier markets. De Ferrari is leaving the Zurich-listed bank after 17 years to follow other opportunities, it said. As confirmed, de Ferrari has been appointed by the embattled Australian financial services group, AMP.

Francois Monnet and Benjamin Cavalli have been named to lead Asia-Pacific private banking; Monnet and Cavalli will continue to be based in Hong Kong and Singapore respectively, and will report to Helman Sitohang, CEO for Asia-Pacific.  

Monnet will take on the role of head of private banking for North Asia, with Cavalli appointed as head of private banking for South Asia. 

“This new structure will enable closer proximity to clients, shorten decision making lines, increase regional focus and continue to foster business collaboration across the bank’s integrated private banking and investment banking platform,” the bank said. “These have been differentiating attributes for Credit Suisse which have led to industry leading growth in profits for Wealth Management & Connected (WM&C), comprising Private Banking, Advisory, Underwriting & Financing, since 2015,” it said.

“WM&C has continued to benefit from a strategic focus on target entrepreneur, corporate and ultra-high net worth clients, delivering adjusted pre-tax income of SFr464 million ($471.244 million) in the first six months of 2018, up 15 per cent year-on-year, and a strong adjusted return on regulatory capital of 31 per cent,” it continued. Private Banking Asia Pacific’s assets under management crossed the SFr200 billion milestone to reach a record of SFr206 billion in the first half of 2018, it said.

Sitohang said of the appointments: “We are confident that further regional focus in our business and a flatter, more nimble structure, led by Francois and Benjamin, will increase the client and market proximity while providing more local empowerment for our highly talented people.”

Monnet joined Credit Suisse in 2007 as head of Private Banking for Southeast Asia. Since January 2016, he has held the role of head of private banking of Greater China, and is also the CEO of Credit Suisse’s Hong Kong branch.  

Cavalli joined Credit Suisse in 2009 as head of private banking for the Singapore market.  He was appointed head of private banking for Southeast Asia and head of the Singapore location in October 2014, and in January 2017 he also assumed the role of Singapore CEO.

AMP
 De Ferrari will succeed Mike Wilkins, who has served as interim CEO since April 2018.  Wilkins will work with Mr De Ferrari to ensure a smooth handover before returning to his position as a non-executive director on the AMP Board. De Ferrari will join the AMP Limited Board as an executive director at the first board meeting in January 2019.

AMP chairman David Murray said: “Francesco is an outstanding leader with a strong track record in international wealth management and extensive experience in redesigning business models to drive turnaround and growth."

The new boss takes the helm at what has been a difficult period.  AMP logged a drop in underlying profit in the first half of this year, falling to A$495 million ($365.7 million) from A$533 million for the same period a year earlier. The attributable profit, taking account of a number of costs and one-off expenses, slumped to A$115 million from A$445 million. In July, this publication reported that AMP had warned investors it expects to provide for A$290 million (after tax) in costs to remediate clients for past misconduct over advice, part of a string of scandals in the country’s financial industry. (See here for details.)