How to get ahead in investment banking

Investment bankers used to be the masters of the universal banks, earning money that made everyone else green with envy.

But no longer: now, even when they’re doing well, they have to know their place.

In December, a gaggle of Credit Suisse business leaders from around the world stood in front of investors in Canary Wharf to tell them how brilliantly they were performing.

Investing the riches of very wealthy company owners in Asia – and lending them money – is ground zero for the Swiss bank’s new business model. The global markets trading businesses have been struggling in Asia. But old-style investment banking and capital markets has been top notch.

For the first nine months of 2019, Dealogic ranked Credit Suisse number two in Asia ex Japan investment banking revenue – ahead of Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs and behind only Citic Securities. It was number one for investment banking revenues in south-east Asia. And as Euromoney went to press it was on track to be number one for the region for the whole of 2019, given its lead role on the giant Alibaba Hong Kong IPO in November.

How do you get ahead at Credit Suisse in Asia?

Edwin Low, co-head of investment banking and capital markets for Asia-Pacific, offers a glimpse into how the firm has been institutionalizing cultural change.