Credit Suisse’s Brazilian operation has certainly been successful in distinguishing itself in areas other than equities. This year to date the bank has a staggering 40.8% share of M&A volumes (according to Dealogic), and the dominance in this area masks its real fee performance, with Olympio saying Dealogic has a hard time gauging opaque M&A fees, which he suggests are higher than are credited by the data provider. Olympio hints that a large part of its success in M&A beyond its local contacts is its ability to differentiate itself from the locals that have private equity divisions. "We are a pure provider of services – we don’t do principal investment – which I think gives clients comfort [especially] now that other institutions are moving into private equity and doing principal investments. That sometimes creates a perception of potential conflict."
In his new position, Olympio is keen to continue the exploration of synergies between the bank’s groups. Investment banking deals have emerged from its private bank, Hedging-Griffo (for example, the sale of Big Ben, from Pará, to Brazil Pharma). And in reverse, M&As have led to private banking business – Credit Suisse advised Edson Bueno, the principal shareholder of Amil in its recent sale to United Health, and the bank managed to retain a majority of the proceeds in the private bank.