Credit Suisse’s Greater China CEO to leave bank this week – memo

By Summer Zhen and Selena Li

Hong Kong (Reuters) – Carsten Stoehr, Credit Suisse’s chief executive for its Greater China business, is leaving the bank, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters, as it undergoes a global overhaul with big layoffs.

Stoehr will step down on Thursday and pursue other opportunities, according to the memo sent to regional staff from the bank’s Asia Pacific CEO Edwin Low on Monday.

A Credit Suisse spokesperson confirm the content of the memo. Stoehr could not be immediately reached for comment.

The departure of Stoehr, who rejoined Credit Suisse in 2016 after overseeing global financial market sales in Standard Chartered (OTC:) Hong Kong and led several initiatives to boost the Swiss bank’s China presence, comes after it launched 2,700 layoffs globally in the fourth quarter.

The bank is restructuring globally as it seeks to raise capital from investors following losses from mishaps, promising a business overhaul and the cutting of 9,000 jobs out of 52,000 it had in October.

The company’s APAC head told Reuters in early November that China and Hong Kong would be the biggest growth market” for headcount, but weeks later, about one third of investment bankers at Credit Suisse’s China joint venture were laid off, with about 5% of its private banking headcount in Hong Kong being trimmed.

Reuters reported on Dec. 1 that the bank was looking for ways to accelerate its cost cuts to tackle weaker revenues.

Last Friday, the embattled bank successfully completed the final part of its 4 billion Swiss franc ($4.28 billion) fund raising and said its liquidity levels had been boosted.

($1 = 0.9347 Swiss francs)