Credit Suisse: Profile and Culture

Corporation Overview

Credit Suisse is a Swiss bank that was founded 150 years ago in Zurich, Switzerland, and initially started as a lending and private banking business. Its headquarters are based in Zurich but investment banking businesses are effectively run from the major financial centers in London, New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong. The bank divides itself in three global divisions: private banking, investment banking and asset management.

In Europe, the investment banking division is effectively run from its Canary Wharf offices in London. The investment banking division is further split into “investment banking” (equity and debt underwriting, and M&A advisory), “global securities” (fixed income, equities, arbitrage, etc.) and “research”. The bank has offices is more than 50 countries with a strong presence in USA and Asia.

Credit Suisse is a part of the "bulge bracket" of investment banks. The firm was praised during the financial crisis for its prudent risk management and for not requiring any government support. In 2009, Credit Suisse was recognized as "Bank of the Year" by the International Financing Review and “Best Global Bank 2010” by Euromoney.

Credit Suisse went through numerous mergers that made the bank grow outside its historical private banking roots. In 1988, it acquired First Boston Corporation, which was at the time one of the most prestigious investment bank in the USA, consistently ranked at the top of M&A league tables and led by Wall Street legends Bruce Wasserstein and Joe Perella. Importantly, in 2000, Credit Suisse acquired another leading US investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette (“DLJ” ) for $13bn, which had a strong dominance in high-yield fixed income securities (i.e. financial instruments that are held by institutions rated with low credit ratings)

The bank is run by CEO Brady Dougan, an American who joined the bank in 1990. In London, the investment bank is run by Luigi de Vecchi, an Italian who joined from Goldman Sachs in 2004.

Culture and Other Important Facts

Credit Suisse has a particular strength and historical roots in private banking and wealth management (similarly to the other Swiss Bank, UBS), and it is the world's largest private banking organisation. However, after acquiring First Boston and DLJ, it has become a major global force both in investment banking and capital market activities, advising on high profile deals such as the Google IPO. More recently, Credit Suisse has been one of the winner of the financial crisis, taking advantage of the turmoil to gain substantial market share in investment banking activities. For example, Credit Suisse ranked #5 in Global M&A for 2009, and #2 for Europe.

In M&A, the bank has been consistently ranked in the top 10 globally, with a particular strength in Technology M&A thanks to “rainmaker” Frank Quattrone (now left to create his own boutique), would helped bring dozens of companies public during the 1990s tech boom.

Credit Suisse and is also one of the best leverage finance bank on Wall Street and in the City, due to its historical strength in high yield from its acquisition of DLJ.

Credit Suisse strength lies in its “neutral” and strong Swiss brand, which can help in gaining sensitive mandates (for example, in some countries where being a US bank is a disadvantage) and has helped the bank avoid too much regulatory scrutiny. The bank also relies on its substantial private banking customer base, which can be taped to gain advisory business, as numerous CEOs and ultra-high net worth individuals are clients of the private banking business.

While Credit Suisse is technically a European Investment Bank, its culture is a mix of American style and European style, mainly due to the fact that it acquired several US investment banks and has a quite successful US investment banking business. The culture is often characterised as a “good work culture, but long working hours”. This means that the work hours will typically be as long and as intense compared to the US bulge brackets, but the work culture will be more friendly, open and down to earth. It is worth noting that several senior MDs have been with the bank for their entire careers, and the bank is well known for being relatively stable.

The bank has an open culture and encourages transfer across countries and products. Credit Suisse has a strong reputation and M&A business in the US (NY and San Francisco for Technology M&A), London, and Asia (Hong Kong, Greater China and Singapore where it is one of the few bank with a locally-based M&A team).

Strengths and Rankings

Strengths

> Credit Suisse is a true global investment bank with a good brand name widely recognised, with equally strong positions in Europe, but also in the US and also Asia

> Reportedly has a more open culture compared to other US Bulge Brackets. The bank treats top performers well and allow product and geographical rotations

> Relatively more stable (i.e. cuts were not as deep during the recessions), and one of the better positioned bank since the financial crisis.

> Good and varied dealflow (M&A, IPOs, large cap and mid cap deals) and most teams are quite busy, which provides good exposure to build a strong “deal sheet”.

> Very strong in ECM (IPOs) and DCM (debt products), so you will be able to get a diverse exposure of many banking products

> One of the bank that is very diverse, and very female friendly (lots of senior people are females)

> Less likely to undertake massive layoffs compared to US banks as it has been historically more stable and now on a growth path.

Rankings 2010

Global M&A: #3
European M&A: #3
US M&A: #4
Asia-Pacific M&A: #3