Credit Suisse exec leaves as bank seeks to sharpen strategy

ZURICH (Reuters) – Credit Suisse’s head of Swiss corporate and institutional clients, Barend Fruithof, is leaving the bank, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters, as part of a shake-up to draw the unit closer to its private bank’s strategy.

Fruithof is leaving Zurich-based Credit Suisse to pursue a new opportunity outside the bank, the memo, dated March 5 and signed by private bank head Hans-Ulrich Meister, read.

Andre Helfenstein, who most recently was head of the Zurich region within Credit Suisse’s private bank, will replace Fruithof. The changes are effective immediately.

“We want to take C&IC (the bank’s corporate and institutional business) to the next level,” the memo read. “This includes increasing capital efficiency and fully leveraging collaboration with our other businesses, in particular wealth management.”

A spokesman for Credit Suisse confirmed the accuracy of the memo.

Fruithof, who joined the bank from Swiss cooperative lender Raiffeisen in 2008, had long been tipped as a possible candidate for a future role in senior management.

A source familiar with the matter said it was Fruithof’s decision to leave the bank, adding that he felt that Credit Suisse’s move to cut its balance sheet to improve its leverage ratio has hampered the corporate client business and that the Swiss business has less importance at the bank.

Fruithof was not immediately available for comment. The Credit Suisse spokesman declined to comment on what effect the move to trim the balance sheet is having on its business.

In the memo, Meister said that C&IC is affected by regulatory change, particularly new capital requirements.

Helfenstein’s appointment is part of a broad reshuffle of Credit Suisse’s Swiss business as it seeks to maximize earnings through referrals of existing clients to other units.

John Haefelfinger, who currently runs the bank’s transportation and global finance department, has been named deputy head of C&IC.

Andreas Gerber, who ran the bank’s Zurich corporate business, will take over as head of the small and medium-sized enterprises unit from Urs Gauch, who will take on a senior adviser role reporting directly to Helfenstein.

Daniel Hunziker will become the new private banking head for Swiss clients in the Zurich region while Florence Schnydrig Moser, head of the private bank’s investments and wealth planning unit, will take on Hunziker’s former role.

News of the appointments was first reported by Swiss finance website finews.ch.

A separate memo seen by Reuters, dated Feb. 26 and confirmed by a bank spokeswoman, said that Credit Suisse has appointed Tim Bock, an experienced solutions provider at its investment bank, as co-head of a new global private banking unit focusing on solutions and products for wealthy clients.

(Reporting By Katharina Bart, Joshua Franklin, Oliver Hirt- Writing by Joshua Franklin.- Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and David Goodman)