The Swiss private bank business gets a long-tenured internal candidate as its new leader. The business needs continuity - and growth.

After seven years at the helm, Serge Fehr will step down and hand over the leadership of Credit Suisse's Private Banking Switzerland business. The CEO of the domestic bank, André Helfenstein, thanked Fehr for his work as that institution's highest-ranked private banker in a media release Tuesday. Fehr himself can look back on an exemplary track record.

The new head of the Swiss private banking business will be Roger Suter, who joined the bank in 1993 and currently heads the Central Switzerland region. According to the media release, Suter has been working closely with Fehr and his management team for many years and he is an acknowledged private banking expert.

Continuity

For the outside observer, the step is a symbol of continuity. Suter is a long-tenured Credit Suisse executive and has been involved in numerous projects and is seen as a confidante of current management. But he also does not represent fresh blood from outside.

The severely troubled bank does need a certain level of peace and predictability in its home market. But things shouldn't end there, even if the Swiss business wasn't directly impacted by recent events.

Tight Spot

There is a great deal of work ahead, as finews.com indicated in a recent analysis. And Suter needs to find a way to give the Swiss wealth management business fresh impetus.

The course for the group as a whole is clear. Credit Suisse's top private banker, Francesco De Ferrari, recently presented investors during a deep dive conference in London with rosy growth projections. But his predictions were taken in with some skepticism, something that finews.com also commented on.

Tough Competition

Fehr strongly emphasized the digitalization of the banking business during his term. But at the same time that he expanded digital channels, he also put an onus on the provision of client advice by authentic, qualified, and certified bankers.

In 2019, Fehr indicated in an interview with finews.ch (German only) that the bank had to make quick progress given the many challenger banks out there. «We will have missed a very big opportunity if we don't see results in three years», he said then. Credit Suisse launched its digital banks offer CSX exactly a year after that.

The media release did not indicate where Fehr, who joined Credit Suisse in 1996, was going to.