Credit Suisse has announced it plans to fully integrate Clariden Leu into its organisation in a move aimed at cost savings of around CHF200m (€162.8m).

This is part of the previously announced target to increase Private Banking's contribution to the group's pre-tax income by CHF800m (€651m) by 2014. Hans Ulrich Meister, CEO of Private Banking Credit Suisse, has been appointed chairman of the board of directors of Clariden Leu; In the meantime, Hanspeter Kurzmeyer has been named as its new CEO.

The legal and operational integration is expected to be completed by the end of 2012. The resulting job cuts are part of the 3% headcount reduction at Credit Suisse Group over two years that was announced on 1 November.

According to SRP, the integration of Clariden Leu into Credit Suisse will bring to the bank over 1,200 live products in the Swiss market with an estimated value of CHF10.1bn (€8.2bn). Currently, Credit Suisse has a 5% market share in Switzerland with CHF1.3bn (€1.05bn), still a long way from the top three providers in the Swiss market: Vontobel (51%), Union des Banques Cantonales Suisses (17%) and UBS (15%).

In addition, Credit Suisse has launched Quantitative Risk Management (QRM), a new algorithmic index platform which provides clients with tailored solutions through the bank's trading and analytics technology. The new indices will be fully investable through a range of wrappers such as swaps, notes, certificates, or funds.

The platform will allow investors to create bespoke indices and monitor their performance through Credit Suisse's investor portal, LOCUS, and public data sources such as Bloomberg. In addition to creating bespoke trading strategies, the QRM platform currently offers exposure to four existing Credit Suisse strategic indices including the CS Global Carry Selector Index (an alpha-generating strategy which systematically rolls short variance swap positions on major Global indices); the CS ACE Index (a call overwriting strategy to enhance yields on long-only indices); the CS Equity Tail Hedge Index (an index designed to perform well in times of market stress while incurring low costs during stable markets); and the CS Equity Volatility Alpha Index (an index aimed at achieving a low-risk, cost-effective short exposure to EuroStoxx50 volatility).