Credit Suisse
Wealthy Australians have never much availed themselves of private banks in the way that much of the rest of the world understands and uses them. Indeed, a prevailing view holds that egalitarian Australians don’t see themselves as wealthy, when they clearly are.
Credit Suisse is doing its best to change that perception, walking directly into a niche neglected by the home-grown operators.
Australia is home to around 430,000 high net-worth individuals, the sixth highest in the world. Credit Suisse’s own data holds that around 3,000 Australians own net assets of more than A$50 million ($38 million) each, an increase of 30% from 2016, thanks to soaring property and share markets.
With its global reach and established presence in private wealth management, CS claims to be the fastest-growing private bank in Australia.
Under the tutelage of Alex Wade, head of Australia, and developed and emerging Asia private banking, the Swiss bank has doubled its headcount to about 100 private wealth managers in Melbourne and Sydney, targeting the existing huge wealth generators and hoping to snare some of the 200,000 new millionaires created in Australia in a year as markets continue to boom.