SINGAPORE, Sept 2 – Credit Suisse, which has been rocked by a series of scandals, management changes and readjustments to its global strategy, remains betting big on China and plans to launch a wealth business in the country next year. said a senior executive from Asia.
“Despite all the rumors going around that Credit Suisse is pulling out of China, China is a long-term bet for us,” Benjamin Cavalli, head of its Asia-Pacific wealth management business, said in an interview. with GLM.
The bank intends to start offering wealth management services in China next year, after securing full ownership of its local securities firm, which is likely to happen in the first quarter of next year, Cavalli said.
Credit Suisse’s expansion plan in China comes despite the bank cutting jobs and costs elsewhere as it tries to recover from a series of losses and scandals. In July, the Swiss bank named its head of asset management as its new CEO.
The previously unreported plans for the China wealth deal next year also come shortly after some media outlets reported that Credit Suisse was reviewing its China business.
On Thursday, GLM reported that Switzerland’s second-largest bank, which has called 2022 a “transition” year, is weighing the possibility of cutting some 5,000 jobs across the group, roughly one in ten.
Cavalli said the bank is taking a long-term view on China, given the huge potential of selling wealth management products to the wealthy in the world’s second-largest economy.
China’s wealth management market stood at 29 trillion yuan ($4.2 trillion) in June, according to official data, and banks have pointed out that household wealth is rising faster than growth. economic.
Chinese banks dominate the distribution of proprietary and third-party wealth products in the country, where there is growing demand from high-net-worth individuals and the wealthiest individuals.