Strategy
Credit Suisse's New Swiss Entity Starts Legal Operations

A new chapter in the history of the Zurich-listed lender opened today.
Zurich-listed Credit Suisse
announced that its new Swiss legal entity, Credit Suisse
(Schweiz) has legally started operations, a step taken as the
bank restructured to comply with the Alpine state’s
“too-big-to-fail” regime created to tackle future crises.
The new entity is a 100 per cent subsidiary of the bank and
operates under its own banking licence. The organisation
comprises the universal bank business for Swiss clients.
Earlier this year Credit Suisse announced the new structure so
that it fits with a new regime the Swiss authorities have set up
to prevent banking groups becoming so large that winding up parts
of their business in the event of a crisis becomes impossible. In
the 2008-09 financial crisis, the government gave financial aid
to Switzerland’s largest lender, UBS. Switzerland’s hard-won
reputation for rock-solid banking took a hit.
Credit Suisse has, meanwhile, reshaped its business divisions and
has made a point of looking to Asia as a vital growth engine in
future, such as for its private banking arm.
Clients of Credit Suisse will see no noticeable effect from the
change, the banks said in a statement.
“The creation of Credit Suisse (Schweiz) AG is not only about the
implementation of new regulatory requirements but also allows our
Swiss business to build on the positive development over the past
few quarters and gain further market shares in our crucially
important home market,” Tidjane Thiam, Credit Suisse group chief
executive.
As previously announced, the Board of Directors of Credit Suisse
(Schweiz) AG is composed of the following members: Alexandre
Zeller (chairman), Peter Derendinger, Alexander Gut, Andreas
Koopmann, Urs Rohner, Severin Schwan and Tidjane Thiam.