Credit Suisse shakes up board for new private banking & wealth division

Credit Suisse has announced a board reshuffle as it creates a new private banking and wealth management division.

The Swiss firm said Hans-Ulrich Meister, currently head of private banking in Switzerland, and Robert Shafir would head up the new division, with Shafir taking on specific responsibility for private banking and wealth management products.

Credit Suisse's new division will also include asset management and sees it step up its ambition of streamlining the business.

Brady Dougan, chief executive officer of Credit Suisse, said the changes were the next 'logical' step for the firm after it adapted its business model to suit the changing regulatory environment and evolution of the wealth industry.

Dougan outlined: 'We have restructured our investment banking model resulting in a high returning, lower risk, client oriented business. Our private banking model is highly scalable and suited for the new regulatory environment, and we have sharpened the focus of our asset management business.'

The move also sees Credit Suisse's investment banking arm split apart from its private banking and wealth operation.

A number of firms have in recent months looked at ways of reinvigorating their offering to suit the changing world.  UBS is a notable example, which has chosen to focus on wealth management.