Credit Suisse sells German privat bank unit to ABN AMRO
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Credit Suisse has been proactive in evaluating its client service model in Western Europe to ensure that it is ideally aligned to capture opportunities and perform well in the current market. This involves reallocating resources to growth areas and adjusting capacity to meet client needs, efficiently manage costs across our businesses and improve our overall market position.
Against this backdrop, Credit Suisse has decided to focus on UHNWI and premium HNWI and service these clients from global booking platforms outside of Germany. As a consequence, Credit Suisse has agreed to sell its entire domestic private banking business booked in Germany.
The sale also includes the External Asset Managers booked in Germany. The Asset Management, Real Estate Asset Management and Investment Banking businesses, based in Frankfurt, are not part of the transaction.
The combination of Credit Suisse's domestic private banking business booked in Germany and ABN AMRO's strong and established platform, which operates as Bethmann Bank in Germany, will create the third largest provider of private banking services in Germany. Bethmann Bank is already one of Germany's leading private banks.
Credit Suisse will focus on UHNW and premium HNW clients and will continue to deliver its structured advisory process, client-specific value propositions, comprehensive investment services as well as the capabilities of the investment bank. Going forward, German clients will be booked on the bank's global booking platforms, notably those in Switzerland and Luxembourg.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the course of 2014. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. ■