Winners rationale

As a beneficiary of the flight to quality in 2020, Credit Suisse Private Banking Australia made major gains in clients’ mindshare and wallet share, demonstrating its strengths as a global private bank with a stable and experienced team rooted onshore.

While the pandemic-induced lockdowns disrupted businesses worldwide, Credit Suisse Private Banking Australia in March 2020 successfully pivoted to a 100% work-from-home arrangement in the space of weeks, while supporting clients via mature digital service offerings and weekly CIO calls attended by a large number of clients over six months. The ability to maintain close contact with clients on the back of its extensive network in the domestic market allowed Credit Suisse to achieve impressive NNA growth YoY — even though attracting new assets was tough for many private banks in 2020.

The impressive NNA gain was backed by Credit Suisse’s well-developed Digital Private Banking offering, of which Australia already had the fastest adoption rate worldwide before the pandemic — with over 40% of trades completed on the digital platform in 2019. The COVID-19 situation accelerated client engagement via digital means, and the timely launch of the Credit Suisse Chat function facilitated the connection between RMs and clients, despite the social distancing measures.

In 2020, Credit Suisse Private Banking Australia continued to drive its one-bank strategy in the domestic market, collaborating with partners in Investment Bank & Global Markets in the introduction of two M&A transactions to the US, an ASX capital-raising and other public and private debt financings. The ability to provide strong global connectivity and trading capability amid volatile market conditions sets Credit Suisse apart from its peers in the domestic market, winning new clients and wallet share in a year full of uncertainties.

In addition to an exceptional performance in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, Credit Suisse Private Banking Australia followed through with its strategic push in the New Zealand and South Australia markets, which had started in 2019, resulting in positive traction in terms of new client acquisitions, thanks to its strategy in New Zealand.

The well-rounded success of Credit Suisse was reflected in the strong growth YoY in terms of both revenue and AUM, strong transactional revenues buoyed by the market volatility, and resilient revenue growth in DPM and advisory portfolios.

Riding on the steady and rapid growth of the business over the past few years, Credit Suisse grew from strength to strength and proved its true value as a trustworthy, globally connected partner in a turbulent external global environment.

Credit Suisse is Asian Private Banker’s Best Private Bank – Australia for 2020.