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Bloomberg
Credit Suisse Group AG is struggling to halt departures from its private bank in Hong Kong, with more recent resignations amid the turmoil at the Swiss lender.
Luke Chiu, a managing director and China market leader has resigned from the bank. Nelson Hui, a director and team leader for China has also resigned, along with two
relationship managers.
Steven Lau, a director on the Hong Kong team, resigned a few weeks ago and is joining a rival firm. This adds to the
two senior private banker
resignations last month.
Shares in the Swiss banking giant plummeted 12% to an all-time low after a weekend of fevered Twitter speculation about its financial health, before they regained almost all of the losses later in the day. That was accompanied by a spike in the cost to insure the bank’s debt against default, which jumped to its highest ever.
The bank is due to unveil an emergency strategic review on October 27, which is expected to include a large-scale investment banking retreat. While it has outlined plans to expand its wealth unit by focusing on markets such as Hong Kong and Singapore, the bank has become a poaching ground for rivals amid the turmoil.
In the mainland, Credit Suisse has harbored ambitions to grow — hiring private banker Wang Jing from China Merchants Bank Co. to develop its onshore wealth management business in 2020. But the bank has yet to obtain final approval to provide services to wealthy mainland China clients.
The bank last month said its partner in China agreed to sell its remaining stake in a local joint venture for 1.14 billion yuan ($160 million), paving the way for the firm to take
full control of the onshore
securities operation.
The Zurich-based lender in June delayed the targeted launch of a locally incorporated bank in China by a year to 2024, people familiar said at the time.