Zurich Credit Suisse appoints Francesco De Ferrari as head of the newly formed asset management team. He was previously head of the Australian financial group AMP, but has spent most of his career at the major Swiss bank. De Ferrari will also temporarily take over the newly created head of European business, as the bank announced on Monday.
The previous head of the division, Philipp Wehle, has been left behind: The German top banker is leaving the board of directors and will become chief financial officer of asset management – a position he already held between 2015 and 2019.
The previous head of sustainability, Lydie Hudson, will also no longer be a member of the board in the future. Your area of sustainability and research will be dismantled and integrated into asset management and the investment bank. Hudson will leave the bank completely after a transition period, said Credit Suisse.
In addition to the newly signed De Ferrari, the investment bank boss Christian Meissner is also one of the winners of the restructuring of the board. Meissner also takes on the role of head of the USA business. The restructuring follows the new corporate structure presented by António Horta-Osório, Chairman of the Board of Directors, in November. It provides for central asset management, previously the division was divided regionally.
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Horta-Osório wants to rebuild the bank on the model of UBS and thus lead it out of the crisis: Risks are to be reduced in investment banking. Instead, the bank wants to grow primarily by serving rich and super-rich private customers. Hundreds of customer managers are to be hired for this in the coming years.
Credit Suisse wants to regain trust
De Ferrari now has to ensure that the ambitious goals of the Chairman of the Board of Directors are implemented. Credit Suisse aims to raise around 200 billion in additional managed assets by 2024. His division is expected to generate a billion in fee income by the end of 2024. Commenting on De Ferrari, Horta-Osório said: “He will undoubtedly play an important role in the implementation of the group’s new strategy, which will provide the framework for a much stronger, more customer-centric bank with leading global businesses and regional offerings.”
The former head of the Australian financial group AMP is becoming a strong man on the CS board.
(Photo: Reuters)
Credit Suisse needs to regain much of the trust it has lost, especially in asset management. In March, the bank had to liquidate a number of funds that it operated together with the bankrupt fintech Greensill. Since then, professional customers of the bank have feared over two billion dollars.
In addition, Horta-Osório has to appease shareholders after the bank lost $ 5 billion in the collapse of the US hedge fund Archegos in March. “Risk management will be at the center of everything we do,” says Horta-Osório.
Nevertheless, the bank does not come to rest: As became known last week, the Chairman of the Board of Directors violated the short-term quarantine regulations in Switzerland. Instead of isolating himself for ten days after a trip to Great Britain at the end of November, Horta-Osório flew on to the USA at the beginning of December – and thus sparked outrage in Switzerland.
More: Credit Suisse will in future be copying UBS’s recipe for success.