Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse Group AG (CS) is breaking up its international wealth-management unit into seven regions from four, Bloomberg reported, citing people briefed on the matter.
The move is said to be another push by chief executive Tidjane Thiam to regionalize the bank.
The seven regions – Latin America, Brazil, Western Europe, Southern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe – will have their own management.
The plan, called “Project Momentum,” could be announced as early as this week, different sources told Bloomberg.
The wealth-management unit led by Iqbal Khan will give the regions more autonomy to make decisions.
The decision follows a different path from rivals. About six months UBS decided to merge its wealth management businesses into one super-unit.
Thiam created the international wealth-management unit in 2015, when he took the helm at Credit Suisse. The unit’s adjusted pretax profit increased 50% since and is on track to reach a target of $1.81bn by year-end.
Switzerland’s second-biggest bank is approaching the final phase of a broader three-year overhaul that aims to focus more on wealth management rather than volatile investment-banking services.
