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Credit Suisse eyes China’s booming wealth management industry as Swiss bank goes back to its roots
- The 166-year-old bank sees the sector as a key focus of a ‘radical’ restructuring that aims to return it to its core foundation, chairman says
- In view of the ‘huge growth of the middle class’ in mainland China, Credit Suisse is ready to grab a ‘fantastic opportunity’
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China’s multi trillion-dollar asset and wealth management industry presents a big opportunity for Credit Suisse, the beleaguered Swiss investment bank seeking a makeover to overcome years of losses and management upheavals.
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The 166-year-old bank sees the sector as a key focus of its recently announced “radical” restructuring that aims to return it to “its core and solid foundation”, according to chairman Axel Lehmann.
“Wealth management is really at the core of Credit Suisse and our overall strategy,” said Lehmann, adding that the bank is “probably number one, globally” in the family office space.
In view of the “huge growth of the middle class” in the world’s second-largest economy, Lehmann said Credit Sussie is poised to grab this “fantastic opportunity”.
“Over the next five years the number of US dollar millionaires in China will increase by nearly 100 per cent – up to 12 and a half million. The growth in the US is just 13 per cent. So the opportunity is really enormous,” Lehmann said in an interview with the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong.
Credit Suisse eyes China's booming wealth management industry as it goes back to its roots
“For Hong Kong and China, as well as the whole region, it is a really [huge] opportunity,” he said. “We have been here for over 60 years. So I truly believe this is a fantastic opportunity. And here we want to grow and will continue to grow.”
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