Credit Suisse
In Hong Kong’s buoyant, brand-conscious private-banking sector, inevitably it’s a tussle between the Swiss: Credit Suisse and UBS. UBS has the bigger operation, with nearly double the headcount of relationship managers, according to industry data – or 1,138 at UBS versus 586 at Credit Suisse – in the Asia-Pacific region.
But under François Monnet, head of north Asia, Credit Suisse has done more with less this year, by some measures. Credit Suisse reported net revenues of SFr1.6 billion ($1.5 billion) through its private banking arm in calendar 2018, and pre-tax income (PTI) that was almost 4% higher on 2017.
Its chief rival UBS showed a 5% drop in PTI on net revenues of SFr2.4 billion. In its 50th year in Hong Kong, Credit Suisse claims that more than half the billionaires on the Forbes Hong Kong List are its clients. And it continues to migrate and service clients via its digital offerings, such as its proprietary ‘Canopy’ platform, contributing to a 2% improvement in its cost efficiency ratio, to 64%.