Credit Suisse's Asian bankers are now reporting to New York

Credit Suisse has made a string of appointments within its Hong Kong and Asia-Pacific (APAC) corporate finance teams after integrating them into its new global investment banking and capital markets (IBCM) unit.

The Swiss bank has moved to a global model for corporate finance for the first time since 2015, when former CEO Tidjane Thiam established a standalone Asia-Pacific business that contained its own advisory and capital markets businesses.

But following a strategic review led by former chairman Antonio Horta-Osorio, who resigned on Sunday after breaching COVID-19 quarantine rules, Credit Suisse has pulled its APAC unit into the ‘one global IBCM’ structure.

The result is evolution rather than revolution as Credit Suisse’s top management have kept faith in its existing APAC team.  Continuity is the watchword, with main changes affecting reporting lines rather than roles to reflect the global management shift.

Zeth Hung and Edwin Low continue as co-heads of APAC IBCM, although instead of reporting to Helman Sitohang, their new boss is David Miller, who runs IBCM globally and is based in New York.

Hung and Low will also oversee APAC global banking, a new team that comprises the bank’s M&A, industry and country coverage teams within IBCM, according to a memo seen by eFinancialCareers and confirmed by a Credit Suisse spokesperson.

 Miller praised their “excellent leadership” in guiding Credit Suisse to a 6.2% share of corporate finance fees in the first nine months of 2021, adding that he has extended their tenure in “recognition of these strengths and to protect the continuity of their performance.”

In a separate memo, Hung and Low announced the next layer of appointments following a record year for the bank’s IBCM business in APAC, but there’s little change from the shake-up it announced last September.

Joe Lai and Honggui Li have been appointed co-heads of Greater China IBCM, while corporate finance and Hong Kong coverage is led by Kevin Rumjahn.

Aaron Oh, head of structured solutions Apac, has been given an additional role as vice chairman of IBCM for the region, reporting to Hung and Low.

Christian Deiss, who was appointed as head of M&A APAC last September, now reports to global M&A heads Cathal Deasy and Steve Geller.  The bank has also appointed Neel Laungani and Dragi Ristevski as co-heads of APAC financial sponsors reporting to global head Malcolm Price. Ristevski continues as co-head of Australia IBCM, reporting into Hung and Low.

Fisher Zhou, who joined Credit Suisse in September as Head of Healthcare Coverage, APAC now reports into David Kostel, who runs the bank’s global healthcare practice in New York.

The bank has also maintained the management status quo in debt capital markets and equity capital markets.  In addition to his role as head of APAC debt capital markets syndicate, Terence Chia has been appointed to run Apac leveraged finance capital markets. Derek Armstrong is head of APAC leveraged finance origination in addition to his role as head of APAC DCM origination.

Johnson Chui and Sunil Dhupelia continue as co-heads of equity capital markets for APAC, with Dhupelia continuing as head of ECM syndicate APAC.

“A return to a global banking platform will greatly enhance our ability to serve our most important clients, expand in advisory services and key growth sectors, as well as ensure optimal collaboration within our teams. We will also continue to leverage and drive synergies with wealth management, a key differentiator of our APAC regional model,” Hung and Low said in the memo.

Credit Suisse announces bonuses later this month. The full impact on compensation of last year’s $5.5bn loss arising from the collapse of Archegos capital management will then become known.

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