Credit Suisse makes new hires in push to capture China's rich

[BEIJING] Credit Suisse Group made new appointments and hires focused on Greater China as a push by global banks to capture more of the nation's growing ranks of wealthy intensifies.

The Swiss bank has hired a number of bankers from rivals to focus on clients in Greater China, according to an internal memo confirmed by a bank spokesperson. It also named Keng Cheong Lock, who joined the bank in 2007, as market group head of its private banking business in Singapore that's focused on Greater China.

"Asia Pacific is a growing region and the fundamentals underpinning wealth creation remain positive, especially in North Asia and China," said Francois Monnet, head of private banking North Asia and chief executive of the bank in Hong Kong, in the memo.

The lender is beefing up its ranks of private bankers in Asia, joining a hunt for talent to capture clients in an increasingly affluent region. Global lenders are targeting the wealth business for its steady source of fees to boost revenue after years of near rock-bottom interest rates.

Thomas Ang, head of Family Office Services Asia Pacific, will also be relocating to Hong Kong in June as part of an effort to attract more ultra high-net worth clients in Greater China, it said.

The moves are part of the 30 new relationship managers the bank has said earlier it hired in Asia in the first quarter. It has boosted its headcount by more than 100 across Asia-Pacific this year, with almost half of the net hires done since mid-March, people familiar with the matter said earlier.

That comes as the bank has grappled with the fallout from its ties to collapsed family office Archegos Capital Management and supply chain financier Greensill Capital.

BLOOMBERG