By Neil MacLucas
ZURICH--Credit Suisse Group AG (CS) has no intention to launch
as drastic an overhaul of its investment banking activities as its
bigger Swiss rival UBS AG (UBS), the bank's chief executive said
Friday.
"The integrated bank model still meets the needs of many
clients, but investment bank activities must become more
capital-efficient and client-focused," Brady Dougan said at a
banking conference in Zurich.
Beyond investment banking, both Swiss banks also have sizeable
wealth management businesses.
In a radical response to a toughening regulatory environment,
UBS said last month that it will wind down much of its fixed income
businesses - a particularly capital absorbing type of investment
banking - and axe 10,000 jobs.
Credit Suisse started shedding risky assets earlier than UBS,
but didn't shrink its investment bank as drastically as its local
rival.
Banks have been bolstering their capital bases and shedding
risky assets ahead of more stringent global banking regulation,
known as Basel III. The Swiss banks have gone farther than its
global competitors because their local regulator has already
implemented its own tougher rules in light of the big role banks
play for the Swiss economy.
The rules won't come into force until 2019, but the country's
central bank has made it clear that it wants the country's largest
banks--Credit Suisse and UBS--to shore up their capital faster to
be in a position to withstand a major economic shock, which may
result if the euro-zone crisis worsened significantly.
Write to Neil MacLucas at neil.maclucas@dowjones.com
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