Net inflows in the second quarter of the year fell 37.5 per cent to SFr2.5 billion from SFr4 billion during the first three months of the year. Year on year, new money dropped a fifth from SFr3.1 billion this time last year. The Zurich-listed bank, like its peers UBS, EFG and Julius Baer, blamed the strength of the Swiss franc for some of its results. Also many clients, nervous of the economic volatility, opted to keep much of their assets in cash which unlike products and trading does not generate fees. 

On a quarterly basis, it was the sharpest drop in new money inflows by region and adds to disappointing overall results for Switzerland's second largest bank.

A source close to the bank said that the drop in Asia net new money should not be over-stated as "the Asian market has seen a degree of cooling across the industry".

However, others say internal problems could be to blame.

Christopher Wheeler, an analyst at Mediobanca, said instability at the bank could be answerable for the fall in asset inflow. “There has been some instability at the helm of Credit Suisse in Asia, which might have contributed to the drop in new money.”

Last month Credit Suisse named Marcel Kreis as chairman of private banking Asia-Pacific and Francesco de Ferrari as head of private banking Asia-Pacific, who starts from 1 January next year.

The news from Asia matches disappointing results for the bank overall. The wealth management arm drew SFr11.5 billion on new client wallets, down a third from last quarter’s SFr18 billion, while investment banking profits slumped 83 per cent to SFr231 million from the previous quarter. Chief executive Brady Dougan said on a conference call this morning that the bank would cut around 4 per cent of its workforce or 2,000 jobs – it employs around 50,000 – in order to save SFr1 billion next year. He said this was down to the “disappointing performance” this quarter. 

Brady said the cuts will be implemented over the next twelve months. It is understood that these 1,500 of these will be made outside of the bank’s home country and the Asia division will not be unaffected.

“We have to recognise the likelihood that the current headwinds in the economic and market environment may be more persistent than we would have hoped," said Dougan. He gave a downbeat prediction for coming months. “We expect interest rates to remain low for an extended period of time and the strong Swiss franc to continue to have an impact on our results. We may also continue to see lower levels of client activity and a volatile trading environment." 

Compared to its peers, Credit Suisse has been growing modestly in Asia Pacific. Wealth management headcount in the region grew by 6 per cent for the first half of this year to 370. By comparison, UBS wealth management hired 200 wealth management staff in Asia during the same period, ten times the amount of its smaller Swiss rival. Many wealth managers including Standard Chartered, RBS Coutts, HSBC, JP Morgan and Barclays Wealth, have outlined aggressive growth strategies in Asia – where the millionaire population recently overtook that in Europe.

Driving the cuts in the wealth division will be Credit Suisse’s new chief executive of private banking announced today, Hans-Ulrich Meister. The fifty-two year old Harvard-educated Swiss previously headed up the Swiss region for the bank. Former CEO Walter Berchtold will be moving to the role of chairman, the bank said. Meister’s new role as CEO is in addition to his role as CEO for Credit Suisse Switzerland. Meister has been at Switzerland’s second largest bank since 2008.

“In his new position Walter Berchtold will focus on further growing our strategically important business with UHNW clients globally, and will work closely with divisional and regional CEOs helping build our integrated model and expanding our global footprint. Walter Berchtold and Hans-Ulrich Meister are members of the executive board of Credit Suisse and report to Brady Dougan,” the bank said.

Dougan said on the conference call that although Meister will "put his own stamp on the business, the private bank's strategy will not markedly change.

Credit Suisse is currently being investigated by the US Department of Justice as part of a broader industry inquiry. The investigation concerns historical private banking services provided on a cross-border basis to US persons, and the bank received a letter notifying it that it was also being investigated.

When asked about the investigation, Dougan said: "We will work very hard to get a resolution on this over time."