Credit Suisse is using the credit crisis and the changing brokerage landscape to expand its private banking business, according to Dow Jones.

The Swiss bank, which has been less damaged by the mortgage debacle than some of its competitors such as UBS, has been recruiting brokers to build up its US private bank and compete to manage money for the richest of the rich.

Credit Suisse has added 106 relationship managers, so far in 2008. They have joined from rivals such as Goldman Sachs, UBS, Citi's Smith Barney brokerage, and from Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy protection.

Credit Suisse could not be immediately reached by WealthBriefing to confirm or elaborate on the details of the story.

Many of these brokers are high producers. The new recruits together managed more than $33 billion in client assets at their prior firms, the DJ report said.

"These were arguably some of the best in the industry," Anthony DeChellis, chief executive of Credit Suisse Private Banking Americas, was quoted as saying.

Sanford Katz, a top-producing financial advisor at UBS, is one of the firm's key, recent hires. At UBS, Mr Katz managed more than $1.7 billion in client assets and was ranked eighth in Barron's 2008 list of the top 100 financial advisors from brokerages and banks in America.

Last Friday, a team with about $6 million in annual production over the past year, Paul Connolly and Jonathan Galli, joined Credit Suisse's Boston office from UBS, where they managed more than $950 million in client assets.

Last month, Credit Suisse hired Charles McKinney, David Kelton, Barry Pechenik, and Claren David Bellamy from UBS. The four brokers had $6.2 million in production and managed $1.7 billion in prior assets.

Other recent recruits include a $5 million team, Dagny Maidman and Christopher Chase, from Lehman. The team had $1.5 billion in assets under management. In September, UK-listed Barclays agreed to acquire Lehman's private investment management unit and other assets.

The addition of the US brokers is part of Credit Suisse's global expansion of its private banking unit. The firm plans to add 1,000 or more relationship managers over the next three years, with 470 hired year-to-date.

Credit Suisse has 15 offices and 400 relationship managers in the US, with an average annual production of $1.1 million. Rival Swiss bank UBS has nine offices and 263 advisors in its US Private Wealth Management business.