Awards for Excellence 2018
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In western Europe, one bank stands out for its expertise in meeting the needs of high net-worth and ultra-high net-worth individuals – Credit Suisse, western Europe’s best bank for wealth management. Credit Suisse’s private banking revenues in western Europe recorded double digit growth in 2017 and it has enjoyed nine consecutive quarters of positive net new assets across all countries in the region.
Entrepreneurs are its focus, and – unlike most of its peers – Credit Suisse brings the power of its whole bank to these clients in a fully integrated way. Its CIO office and house view, for example, is the same for both the private bank and the investment bank. Investment bankers have been recruited as investment consultants to support relationship managers with investment ideas and asset allocation, as well as bringing an institutional level of service.
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| Claudio de Sanctis, head of IWM Europe, Credit Suisse |
Claudio de Sanctis, head of international wealth management (IWM) Europe, points to the bank’s strategy of extreme focus on fewer geographies and specific segments, with a very concentrated effort on ultra-high net-worth and entrepreneur clients with international needs. He notes that these clients often have highly complex and sophisticated needs.
Innovation and creativity is where Credit Suisse can really bring its expertise to bear. In 2017, its IWM division entered into an agreement with the global markets division to establish the International Trading Solutions (ITS) platform. That collaboration has led to the creation of investment products tailored not only to the needs of institutional clients, such as pension funds, but also to the needs of wealthy private clients. One of ITS’s first products this year was a capital protected note based on a leading financial credit fund. It was oversubscribed within one week.
Credit Suisse has also been a leader and innovator in impact investing and administers some $5 billion in impact assets and has close to 5,000 clients invested in microfinance and impact investment products.
