For Credit Suisse, the Asia-Pacific region is now the place to be

Speaking to The Straits Times in an exclusive interview on Thursday, the Swiss bank’s global chief executive, Tidjane Thiam, said Britons’ decision to secede from the European Union would not have immediate implications for Credit Suisse or its staff, though it has created a lot of uncertainty that will take years to clear up.
“We don’t know who is going to negotiate on behalf of Britain, because we don’t know who will be leading the government – who will be prime minister. And we don’t know when, and we don’t know what the mandate will be. That’s a lot of uncertainty. So at this point in time, to say anything too precise is impossible.”
Still, the bank is in a good position to deal with the fallout of the Brexit vote, Thiam said, as it had been paring its operations in London as part of a restructuring that began last year.
“Don’t forget we are originally a Swiss bank, so we are from outside the EU and we needed an operating platform in the EU, and we have that in Dublin. So we are fundamentally in a reasonably good position to watch what’s going to happen. Once things become clearer, we’ll adjust.”
Thiam, 53, said it was too early to tell whether Brexit could have any silver lining for Asia, though he added that the bank strongly believed in the long-term growth potential of this region. This was evident when the bank unveiled its global restructuring plan last October, which included a big pivot towards Asia.
While the bank has been cutting costs and jobs in the United States, Britain and Switzerland, it has been pumping more capital and resources into this region.
Since the end of the first quarter of 2015, Credit Suisse has added 100 new relationship managers across the Asia-Pacific region. The restructuring also included letting the Asia-Pacific region stand as a business unit of its own, with powers to make decisions quickly and efficiently.
“Often, regional titles in many companies don’t have real power,” Thiam said.
Not so in the case of Credit Suisse’s Asia-Pacific chief executive officer Helman Sitohang. While previously he may have had to get approval from global business bosses before making big decisions, now he can execute them on his own.
That has really been a game changer, Thiam said, and the business model has worked so well that the bank wants to export it to its other geographical markets.
Employees are very happy that they can now make decisions with people who can really understand the market they are operating in.
Thiam said: “We are also investing to ensure we maintain the highest standards in our compliance and risk functions, to support our business ambition and meet our regulatory requirements.”