The change has been made after a review of "product landscape and footprint" of CS Trust, the German-language publication said, citing internal documents it has seen. Cost cutting has been cited as a reason for the change. The results of the move mainly affect people in Switzerland, it said.

A spokesperson for declined to comment to WealthBriefing about the matter when asked about the issue yesterday.

The Swiss publication said up to 50 jobs in Geneva and Zurich will be lost as a result of the cuts. It cited the chief executive of the trust business, Robert Cielen, as saying that a number of people have already been made redundant.

A number of European banks have spun off trusts businesses in recent years, or consolidated these operations. Once seen as a relatively stable and high-margin source of income, the trust business has been squeezed by rising regulatory and associated costs.

Last week, Credit Suisse announced a programme to develop its legal structure to be in shape to deal with existing and future regulatory requirements as the country’s banking regime continues to digest the impact of the 2008 financial crisis, which saw several of the world’s major banks bailed out by taxpayers.

A few weeks earlier, the private banking and wealth management arm of Credit Suisse reported pre-tax income of SFr1.018 billion ($1.14 billion) in the third quarter of this year, up from SFr936 million a year ago and up from SFr917 million in the previous three months.