Credit Suisse Asia-Pacific sees no cuts in jobs, bonuses: top executive

THE 4,000 jobs to be cut at Credit Suisse will not come from the Asia-Pacific region, a top executive said on Thursday.

The bank remains committed to hiring more private bankers in this region, and is seeing "a lot of interesting talent out there", said Helman Sitohang, chief executive officer of Credit Suisse Asia-Pacific in a media briefing. The bank has hired 70 new relationship managers in this region.

Credit Suisse said on Thursday it would save more costs through "the rightsizing of the bank's London presence".

Mr Sitohang also did not see bonus cuts, even as globally, the lender is expected to shrink the bonus pool by 11 per cent, as the Swiss bank reported its first full-year loss since 2008.

The bank reversed into a pre-tax loss for its Asia-Pacific operations in its fourth quarter compared to a year ago, stung by a one-off goodwill impairment that reflected global restructuring in the investment banking division.

The bank's Asia-Pacific division reported a pre-tax loss of 617 million Swiss francs (S$866.3 million) for the three months ended Dec 31, 2015, compared to a pre-tax income of 122 million Swiss francs a year ago. The figures included a goodwill impairment of 756 million Swiss francs, and that captured the Asia-Pacific portion of the overall group's 3.8 billion Swiss francs writedown for the acquisition of investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, in 2000.

On an adjusted basis, though, income from this region rose 21 per cent to 148 million Swiss francs on the back of stronger investment-banking profits that were partly offset by weaker income in the private-banking arm that shows off the hiring spree that has been more aggressive than that of its peers.

In spite of higher market volatility, the bank is expecting higher net new assets under management in the current quarter, Mr Sitohang said. The bank is also taking up market share in the trading and sales of bonds as well as equities - a division in Asia from which several global banks have retreated, due to losses and restructuring pressures.