Credit Suisse’s Mission
Our visit to Credit Suisse today was very interesting and informative about the banking industry in general. The campus we visited today was actually a Center of excellence for Credit Suisse, one of only five others in the entire world. The Mission of Credit Suisse is to leverage geographic diversity and new sources of talent to create a cost effective global business support center that provides operational and technological resiliency. This is a mission that they have successfully met by having a vast array of campuses around the world. Credit Suisse has 530 offices in over 50 countries, mainly based in Switzerland. With over 46,400 employees and assets of 1,268 billion, Credit Suisse is a global leader for private, corporate and institutional clients. They have capabilities in both private and investment banking and serve over 2 million clients privately.
Credit Suisse’s Customers
Credit Suisse has two types of customers; Private and Investment. The private banking sector has 2 million clients which makes up a large part of the company. Private banking requires face-to-face communication which can be hard with so many clients, but Credit Suisse maintains an incredible relationship with its customers based upon honesty and respect as my tour guide said. The Investment side of Credit Suisse is a little different. Usually made up of institutions, government and sometimes individuals worth over 5 million in assets, the Investment side is also a large part of Credit Suisse. My tour guide said that this is where the real money lies; investment banking.
What do Credit Suisse’s Customers Value?
First and foremost, the customers of Credit Suisse value the personal attention and care provided by the employees of Credit Suisse. They don’t feel like they are just a random face in a crowd. The personal attention Credit Suisse places upon its clients, both private and investment is top notch. I asked my tour guide, “What makes Credit Suisse a better bank than other banks? Why would I choose Credit Suisse over another one?” She responded quite simply, the people and the mutual respect amongst clients and employees. Even though I’m not a customer of Credit Suisse, by taking a tour of the building and seeing the people, I get a sense that her comment was spot on. The culture at the building seemed determined yet sociable, incredibly intelligent yet able to communicate with the outside clients.
Credit Suisse’s Results?
On today’s trip, I heard a few facts and figures that I thought were rather interesting. During the information session, they said that the cutoff point at which a person moves from private to investment banking is 5 million in assets. I was just wondering how they came up with this cutoff point. Seems like a sort of arbitrary number. I’ll do more research on this. Also, I thought it was interesting that they only have 46,400 employees. It seems like a lot, but with 2 million private banking clients I think that they would need a lot more to be able to have the face-to-face communication that they talk so highly of. And that’s not even including the investment banking side.
Credit Suisse’s Plan?
We didn’t talk too much about the plan and vision for Credit Suisse in the future. But, they did say that they are always looking to expand to new and developing areas. When asked about how they picked Raleigh as a Center for Excellence, she said that they picked the Raleigh area because it has an incredible amount of monetary potential for them. So, I would believe that they would find areas in the future that are on the rise economically and base more centers there. I think if they keep using their business model and always try and innovate and get better, Credit Suisse will remain at the top of the global banking pyramid in private and investment banking for years to come.
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