Credit Suisse CEO Seeks to Stem Defections After Khan Exit
Credit Suisse CEO Seeks to Stem Defections After Iqbal Khan Exit
(Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse Group AG Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam is devoting more face time to top private bankers and holding talks on boosting pay as he seeks to prevent defections after Iqbal Khan’s exit.
Thiam has been reaching out to the best revenue generators at the international wealth business to discuss compensation and career prospects since Khan left in the summer, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the details are private. The CEO is paying particular attention to emerging markets such as Brazil, the Middle East and emerging Europe, the people said.
Credit Suisse is trying to stem a spate of defections after Khan, who was popular with private bankers, joined its biggest rival UBS Group AG as co-head of the wealth management business. The Zurich-based lender is keen to woo relationship managers that typically bring in the most revenue for the bank. These are usually senior bankers with their own book of clients just below regional managers.
Thiam began the push to meet more wealth management executives in the summer before it slowed after the spying scandal broke out, the people said. A spokeswoman for the bank had no immediate comment.
The bank installed international wealth management chief financial officer Philipp Wehle to replace Khan as head of the business.
Reputational Damage
“We will need to watch to see if the reputational damage to the brand means potential high-profile departures in the next months, though Credit Suisse stated they haven’t seen any evidence of this so far,” Andreas Venditti, an analyst at Vontobel in Zurich said by phone. “Khan doesn’t need to poach people now that he has started at UBS. People who liked to work with him can just call UBS.”
Credit Suisse has recently lost private banking teams to Julius Baer Group Ltd., Deutsche Bank AG and Pictet & Cie. amid the recent spying scandal. The issue erupted into the open last month after Khan and private detectives engaged to follow him had a confrontation in the streets of Zurich.
Jorge Torea, who was in charge of Credit Suisse’s international wealth management business for Brazil, left for Julius Baer on Wednesday, along with four other senior bankers.
Thiam -- who lost a key ally when Chief Operating Officer Pierre Olivier Bouee took the fall for the botched surveillance operation -- recently expressed remorse during a meeting with top managers that he had not been more closely in touch with the bank’s biggest clients in wealth management, according to one person present at the meeting.
To contact the reporters on this story: Archana Narayanan in Dubai at anarayanan16@bloomberg.net;Patrick Winters in Zurich at pwinters3@bloomberg.net;Marion Halftermeyer in Zurich at mhalftermeye@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net, Stefania Bianchi
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