Bus369: Field Experience in Business

Today we visited Credit Suisse. The official mission of the organization we visited today is “to leverage geographic diversity and new sources of talent to create a cost effective global business support center that provides both operational and technological resiliency.” The specific function of the building we came to today tends to be more centered in developing talent and helping Credit Suisse in its other endeavors. Considering that Credit Suisse is a massive bank, that is involved in most parts of banking around the world but the division we visited today is not quite so directly involved with the banking side of things.

Credit Suisse has many different customers, but the majority of them tend to have large amounts of capital. They tend to work with high value investors which means that they are investors with more than $5 million in capital they are ready to invest. Private banking tends to deal with individual investors that are extra wealth, while investment bankers deal with more corporations trying to acquire other companies.

The customers at Credit Suisse tend to value the great service they are getting. The center today was completely dedicated to service and developing more leadership. Credit Suisse tries to find talent and use that talent to interact directly with its customers.

The results that Credit Suisse have gotten are incredible. They have been doing business for 150 years, and are operating in countries all over the world. Credit Suisse has over $1.2 billion AUM and employs over 400 thousand people. Credit Suisse is one of the most influential financial institutions in the world and that is an incredible result.

Credit Suisse plans on continued success in their field and recruitment from schools such as Elon. They are based in Switzerland and are most likely growing with areas such as China and Brazil. Although when asked it was obvious that the majority of the company was kept in the dark about future plans and only the CEO really knew what would be happening.

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Today we visited the Credit Suisse Raleigh Center of Excellence. This company is a bank that deals with wealth management, shared services, private banking and investment banking. Their headquarters is located in Zurich Switzerland and is where the bank started. They focus mostly on large investments and wealthy clients. They have over 530 offices in 50 countries and have 46,400 employees worldwide. They are a very successful very large banking company that has been on top for quite some time. Although todays presentation was brief and didn’t focus too much on the company itself we still were able to extract a lot of interesting and important information about Credit Suisse.

The mission of Credit Suisse revolves around three main points. The first is encouraging young talent, they understand that the future lies within the hands of their predecessors. As we saw today they have a very intense 10 wee internship program that determines if they can work for the company, then they have another two years after that to determine where in the company the future employees fit in. They put a lot of focus on future leaders and make that a prevalent part of their mission. The second part of their mission is a collection strategy. This part focuses on expansion or “collection”, they are hoping to surround and involve themselves with companies that will only have a positive impact on Credit Suisse. The third part of the mission is corporate culture, much like many corporate companies this is a large factor in a successful business. Above all they wish to deliver tailor made and best-in class financial solutions supporting their structured advisory strategy.

Credit Suisse is a very large bank that deals with upper class and large successful organization and individuals. The industries they work with are listed above working with wealth management and investment banking. They have a wide range of customers listed as the following; corporations, governments, institutional investors, hedge funds and private industries.

What the customers value is simple, they value a top notch bank that will do what is best with their money or loans. They are the leading bank in the world for private banking and corporate/institutional clients. The customers recognize this and chose Credit Suisse over their many competitors. Because they only deal with high end business they can be pick with loans and people actually try very hard to work with them.

Like I said before the results of Credit Suisse is that they are number one on the planet for private banking and corporate/institutional clients.

The plan for Credit Suisse in the future is to continue to improve and remain number one. One thing that they discussed today was locations. They want to expand Credit Suisse so that they are located in optimal locations. They want to be where they are needed and demanded so that companies, organizations and individuals don’t have to go out of their way to bank with them. Much like other companies innovation and revenue increase is priority. Credit Suisse is doing all it can to keep up with technology and promote their company in the future.

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What is their mission?

On today’s trip our class visited the Raleigh office of Credit Suisse, one of the leading investment banking and wealth management firms in the world. Credit Suisse was founded in 1856 in Zurich, Switzerland, where it is still headquartered today. At their Raleigh office, which they call a “Center of Excellence,” Credit Suisse supports the creation of leaner, more efficient business functions to better support its customers and clients. Credit Suisse’s mission in Raleigh “is to leverage geographic diversity and new sources of talent to create a cost effective global business support center that provides both operational and technological resiliency.” To carry out this mission in Raleigh, Credit Suisse employs nearly 1,400 employees, many of whom are younger, recent college graduates, which the company does on purpose to keep up high energy levels and enthusiasm when dealing with clients.

Who is their customer?

In the money management industry that Credit Suisse is in, there are two different types of banking, investment and private. Credit Suisse is mainly in the investment banking industry, which means most of its customers are large businesses and not wealthy individuals. It does however do some private banking with individuals who are considered to have high net worth value, which is a person who has assets over five million dollars. With offices spread across fifty different countries, Credit Suisse is able to serve numerous large businesses and wealthy individuals who are looking to receive the most tailored financial services they can find. Businesses in economic hotspots such as Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York City, and London all use Credit Suisse to manage their wealth.

What does their customer value?

The customers of Credit Suisse value the high levels responsibility and intelligence that Credit Suisse acts on when handling their clients’ money. Their customers know when they go to Credit Suisse to manage their wealth and investments that they are using one of the top banks in the world who is has been in existence for over 150 years. They also value the reputation of Credit Suisse, which has received numerous awards such as the top bank in Switzerland, being one of the most admired companies as rated by Forbes, and having excellent yield and return ratios. Credit Suisse came out of the 2008 recession much better than the other banks did and retained much of its assets, subsequently showing how they keep very good care of the assets their customers give them, which is another thing customers look at.

What are their results?

The results of Credit Suisse doing business for 150 years are remarkable. The bank now has 530 offices spread across fifty different countries and currently employs 46,400 employees. 38 of their offices are in Switzerland alone, where they were named the best bank by EuroMoney. Their total assets as of 2012 totaled $1,628 billion and all signs point towards that sum increasing over the next couple years. In addition, they have several other headquarters in the U.K. and New York City to help better manage their business. The Raleigh center alone has grown to 1,400 employees in just eight years since it was opened in 2005.

What is their plan?

While we did not learn much about what the plan is for Credit Suisse in the future because only CEO Brady Dougan really knows what their plans are, it can be assumed that they will continue to look to attract new clients and customers to do business with. They will continue to work to keep up their reputation as an excellent and reliable bank that clients can safely trust their money to, and will also look for new, non-traditional economic hotspots, where they can create new Centers of Excellence just like they did with their Raleigh facility. Most importantly, Credit Suisse will continue to do business with a customer first, client focused mentality because they know without their customers they would not be able to do business at all.

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Today we visited Credit Suisse in Raleigh, at their Center of Excellence. Credit Suisse was founded in 1856 with its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. There are over 530 offices and 22 booking centers located in over 50 countries and a total of 46,400 employees. Credit Suisse does private banking, wealth management and investment banking for both corporations and individuals. It is a leading bank for private, corporate and institutional clients. There are five Centers of Excellence, which provide high quality support services. When looking at employees by region, Switzerland has the most at 41%, then Americas at 24%, 20% EMEA, and 15% Asia Pacific. The Center of Excellence in Raleigh opened in 2005 and currently has 1300 employees. They have four major functions: 1. Operations 2. Informational Technology 3. Finance 4. Shared Functions.

The mission statement of Credit Suisse is leverage geographic diversity and new sources of talent to create a cost effective global business support center that provides both operational and technological supports. This is a very precise and to the point mission statement that clearly shows that Credit Suisse knows exactly what they will do for a customer and help do the best thing for them.

The customers of Credit Suisse are corporations, governments, institutional investors, including hedge funds, and private individuals. As one can see, this company services just about any group or individual who decides to use them for making an investment or any other service. They also have different levels of individual clients, such as a high level individual that has to have at least 5 million dollars in assets so that they can be considered for that level.

The customers of Credit Suisse value the highest quality of support and assistance, whether it is in investment banking, private banking, and wealth management or shared services. Credit Suisse is in such a competitive market, that they have to treat their customers with the highest respects and care so that they choose to stay with the company and not leave for one of its competitors.

The results for Credit Suisse are their ranking as the leaders in private, corporate and institutional banking. One aspect that some people may over look is the fact that they have been around since 1856, which seems nearly impossible, but it goes to show that they know how to be successful and find ways to adapt and stay profitable. The most profitable region is the Americas, and private banking in other regions is on the rise.

The plan for Credit Suisse is to continue to grow and expand. There are some plans to build in new locations where there are up and coming markets that seem to be potentially profitable. As the economy continues to recover from the recession in 2008 and markets start to trend upwards again, Credit Suisse can look for an even brighter and more successful future.

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Ben Doster

What is Our Mission?

The mission statement of Credit Suisse is “The Credit Suisse commitment to the visual arts in Switzerland takes two forms: while Cultural Sponsorship supports the exhibition activities of leading art institutions in the country, the Art Unit is building up a collection of works by contemporary Swiss and Switzerland-based artists”.  Our tour guide mentioned that even though the company is Swiss, they put the local customs and laws before that of Switzerland’s.

Who is our Customer?

There are two types of customers of Credit Suisse, high profile clients who go to them for investment banking services and people who seek their wealth management services.  Credit Suisse is simply a Swiss Bank that specializes in intelligently managing and investing the wealth of high profile people around the world.   According to our tour guide, a high profile client in the eyes of Credit Suisse is anyone who has over five million dollars to invest or have managed.

What does our Customer Value?

The average customer of Credit Suisse values the ability of the company to properly manage individuals’ private wealth.  They are known to be one of the most reputable investment banks in world, with offices in many countries.  It is easy to see why customers continue going back to Credit Suisse to manage their wealth due to how established they are as a company and how they have not received any negative publicity in the past few years.

What are the Results?

The results of all this are simple, Credit Suisse is a leader in the investment banking industry with one of the most reputable names in the business.  The company has grown up so much in the recent years that they have split into three sections that include private banking, investment banking, and a combination of the two which is known as shared services.  The Raleigh office that we visited was divided up between four functions, which include operations, IT, finance, and shared funds.  There are no plans to expand into any other functions as the company continues to increase in size.

What is our Plan?

Credit Suisse only plans on continuing to grow in the future.  According to our tour guide, they are trying to comply with the current theme in business of moving their offices into areas with a lower operating cost such as Raleigh.  She mentioned how it was roughly one/third the cost to operate an office in Raleigh as opposed to Wall Street.  The money that is saved by doing this allows for more to be invested back into the company, ultimately making it better each year.

Overall, I really enjoyed our visit to Credit Suisse today.  One thing that stood out the most to me was the organization of the company and how they would recruit people based on their personality and then place them where they are expected to be successful.  This is very different from some other companies that base their hiring strictly on degrees.  This gave me the sense that Credit Suisse is a very efficient company.

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Credit Suisse was easily the best place we have been to thus far. When they started explaining the business and how the company was run I wanted to apply for their internship immediately. Also, since they have a large amount of Elon graduates it only seems fitting. It was also a very different presentation from the past presentations we have been apart of. It was very interactive and they supplied us with food and drinks right when we got there which was a great plus. But, when it came down to the actual business I thought it was by far the best business we have witnessed.

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 technological resilience. A large majority of the people that I saw working there were very young. This may be because we only saw the people working in cubicles, which is not exactly where the older, more experienced managers would be working. This would fall in line with their mission statement because they are looking for new talent and the best place to find that is in the recent college graduates. I really support Credit Suisse and their mission because they are taking advantage of the young talent and I may be biased when saying this but our generation is going to change the world drastically in all the best ways.

The customers of Credit Suisse are people and companies that need to have their money managed and investments monitored. They manage investments for institutions, hedge funds, corporations, etc. They are world renown for their work and are highly respected around the globe. Credit Suisse is a broad corporation and the individuals working there may be shuffled around to different areas of the world based on the projects they are working on and the need of the company for extra help.

The customers of Credit Suisse value the consistency of their work. They have been around since 1856 and have been successful in their efforts for a very long time. Based out of Switzerland, Credit Suisse is a world leader in investment banking and is continuing to grow. Even though their headquarters are in Europe, they make a large amount of their profit in the Americas. This is also what the customers value, their ability to seek and find profitable opportunities throughout the world. Meaning, Credit Suisse is very flexible and open to change, which is always going on in the investment-banking world. This is highly valued by their customers.

The result of Credit Suisse is that they are maximizing their profits constantly and are staying at the top of the investment banking industry. Also, the result of Credit Suisse is that they are gaining more and more publicity and, in turn, are getting more and more clients and customers. This is the result that they are planning and strategizing for and they are meeting it year after year, sometimes exceeding it. The only stumble was during the financial crisis, but it was hard to avoid in any industry.

The plan for Credit Suisse is to continue to provide their best efforts for their customers and to meet all of their needs. Also, to seek out new profitable opportunities for the future which is why they hire new young talent to provide insight into where these opportunities could be. They also plan on gaining more profit in the areas that they are not normally making a profit (Asia & Europe). The Americas are their major source of profit, so they plan to build on that but also to bring attention back to other parts of the world to maintain their global presence.

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