Best Private Bank Australia
Credit Suisse
Best Private Bank – Australia
Michael Marr
market group head for Australia, Credit Suisse Private Banking Asia Pacific
“We are delighted to receive the recognition as Best Private Bank – Australia for the third consecutive year and six out of the past eight years. The Australian wealth market has seen significant consolidation over the years, but Credit Suisse Private Banking has been able to leverage our integrated business model and global network to grow successfully. We are well positioned to be one of the very few global banks with a true private banking model which differentiates us from the rest of the industry. As testament to this, our clients continue to support and trust us to be their preferred wealth partner, boosting our assets under management by a steady 25% CAGR over the last four years.
In 2019, we continued to grow our business, offering clients global investment solutions ranging from private equity to sustainable investments for them to diversify their portfolios amid increasingly challenging markets. On the digital front, our digital private banking platform continued to gain traction and this year, we also launched Credit Suisse Chat to Australia, further enhancing the client experience.”
Winners rationale
The strategy of anchoring in Australia as an onshore, foreign-headquartered private bank played out well for Credit Suisse Private Banking Australia, as it seized business opportunities in 2019 in a market shaken up by the revelations of the Banking Royal Commission which early in the year concluded its investigation into misconduct in the finance industry.
Credit Suisse served UHNW clients and entrepreneurs across functions — from private banking to wealth and corporate advisory. It had strong ties to key family offices and foundations, offering them institutional quality advice and execution with global connectivity. Its genuine integration with the domestic market allowed it to originate the two largest ASX IPOs and closing Australia’s largest residential mortgage in 2019.
Credit Suisse is helmed by an industry veteran and its team of seasoned RMs has an average tenure of six years. Its AUM more than doubled since 2016 and its pre-tax income almost doubled each year since 2016.
The Judging Panel was impressed by how bankers built trust by delivering recurring quality transactions with UHNW clients, which resulted in a significant amount of net asset inflows from a single UHNW client over the last two years, as Credit Suisse was chosen as the beneficiary bank in liquidity events.
In a country where virtual retail banks have been warmly welcomed, Credit Suisse was at the forefront of digitalisation in 2019 to ensure its competitiveness was future-proofed. Australia had the fastest adoption rate for Credit Suisse’s Digital Private Banking offering globally with over 40% of trades now completed on the digital platform.
Capitalising on the success of its rapid yet steady business growth in the past few years, Credit Suisse in 2019 forged ahead in the South Australian and New Zealand markets. The double-digit growth in revenue YoY — with an above-average leap in recurring revenue and collaboration revenues — has vindicated the bank’s growth strategy and augurs well for its business expansion in the region.
Credit Suisse is Asian Private Banker’s Best Private Bank – Australia for 2019.
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