Credit Suisse is a global investment bank and financial services firm established and located in Switzerland headquarter is in Zurich. It is considered the global systemically important bank. It is also a primary dealer and Forex counterparty of the Federal Reserve in the United States.
Its function is to maintain offices in all major financial centers around the world. The other services include:
- Banking secrecy to its clients
- Assets management
- Investment banking services.
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Private banking
It is owned by Credit Suisse Group AG which is organized as a joint-stock company. It’s registered in Zürich which works as a holding company.
It is divided into two majorly, Private Banking & Wealth Management and Investment Banking.
Management
Credit Suisse is governed by a board of directors, independent auditors and the shareholders. The board of directors- arrange for the annual general meetings of the shareholders. They have to meet 6 times every year to for the votes on the company resolution. The board members are obligated to set Credit Suisse’s business strategies. Additionally, they approve the compensation Creates a committee that assign specific management duties such as;
- Investors- Determine the agenda of the meeting.
- Shareholders- Elect auditors for a one-year terms. They also elect the members of board of directors who have to serve for a term of three years.
- They elect members of BOD who works on a term of three years.
- They are also responsible for the approval of the yearly financial statement and report Ownership Harris Associates. Harris is owned by French Banking Natixis holds over 10% of the shares of the group and then withdrew in March 2023.
By January 2023, the Saudi Bank after being boosted by Qatar Investment Authority is said to have held 10% of the shares in Credit Suisse.
In March 2023, a fellow Swiss bank group UBS decided to buy Credit Suisse for more than US$3 billion which have been reported to have averted a greater predicament according to SNB.
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Reputation and rankings
Since the 1940s to early 2010s the reputation of the bank has been contentious. Credit Suisse developed a Credit Risk and model of risk assessment loans which focuses on the chance of default based on the exogenous Poisson method.
As of 2002 about 20 percent of Credit Suisse’s revenue was from its insurance business which it gained through the 1997 acquisition of Winterthur. According to the history 20% to 40% of the bank’s revenue has been from private banking services.
The investment bank has a 30% ownership in hedge fund investment firm in York Capital Management whereby Credit Suisse offers Management private banking clients to sell hedge to. It has been a list of the largest and most profitable bank until its acquisition by UBS in 2023. It’s been one of the world’s most important banks that the international financial stability depends on it.
By 2004, Credit Suisse was ranked first in volume of high-yield transactions Ranked second in volume of high-yield transaction Ranked third in IPO underwriting. It has also been ranked as the world’s best private bank and European Equity Manager by global investors
In1995 it was ranked as the fourth best place for financial advice for mergers and acquisitions in the US and sixth for domestic equity issues by the Security Data Company. It was documented to be the second best prime broker by institutional investors by the Asset Triple Award.
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