Credit Suisse's U.S. Private-Banking Chief Departs

ZURICH—Credit Suisse Group AG is parting company with longtime executive and U.S. private banking head Philip Vasan, according to an internal memo, in the latest sign of the strategic shake-up at the Swiss bank.

Credit Suisse is shifting focus under recently appointed Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam, who took over in July, focusing its private-banking efforts in Asia among other changes.

The Zurich-based bank said last month that it would unload its U.S.-based private-banking business to Wells Fargo & Co. by next year.

Mr. Vasan will be leaving Credit Suisse in the spring after the expected transfer of the private-banking assets to Wells Fargo, according to the memo which has been seen by The Wall Street Journal. The banker has been with Credit Suisse for more than two decades, most recently in charge of the U.S. private banking. Before that, Mr. Vasan had a successfully run Credit Suisse's prime-brokerage unit providing services to hedge funds.

The U.S. is just one of a number of foreign markets where Credit Suisse has closed wealth management offerings in recent years, as it has sought to cut costs and focus on more profitable regions.

Under the new strategy unveiled by Mr. Thiam last month, the bank will redouble its wealth management efforts in Asia, where demand for banking services for the wealthy is soaring, while cutting back in the U.S.

"In the U.S., our domestic private banking business isn't currently positioned to compete in scale without significant investment or acquisition," Credit Suisse said last month, as part of an announcement regarding its strategy shift.

Other changes under way at the bank include cutting the amount of capital used by Credit Suisse's investment bank, and a new effort to bolster the bank's presence in the domestic Swiss market.

Mr. Thiam last month announced a series of changes to the bank's executive board, including the departure of Mr. Vasan's boss Rob Shafir as co-head of private banking and wealth management. Mr. Shafir continues to serve as chairman of the Americas for Credit Suisse, which offers investment-banking and asset-management services in the region.

Mr. Shafir's counterpart, former co-head of private banking Hans-Ulrich Meister, also stepped down from the bank's executive board.

As it seeks to revamp, Credit Suisse is raising a significant amount of new capital to bolster its efforts. On Thursday, the bank will hold a shareholder meeting in Switzerland, to stage votes on management's plans to raise roughly 6 billion Swiss francs ($6 billion) in fresh capital via a private placement to investors and a rights offering to existing shareholders.

--Jenny Strasburg contributed to this article

Write to John Letzing at [e-mail]

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November 16, 2015 10:35 ET (15:35 GMT)

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