Credit Suisse has legally completed its merger with Clariden Leu and expects the technical process of integrating all business activities to be complete by the end of 2012.
Daniel Sandmeier (pictured), director at Credit Suisse and president of the Swiss Structured Products Association (SSPA), told SRP that going forward all structured products will be issued under the Credit Suisse brand, and that no further products will be marketed under the Clariden Leu name. "As before, products will be publicly distributed and listed on the Scoach exchange," said Sandmeier. "There will be no reduction in issuing activity as a result of the merger."
With the merger, the subsidiary Clariden Leu Holding AG will be fully integrated into Credit Suisse Group AG. Clariden Leu became one of the largest private banks in Switzerland following the 2007 merger of five Credit Suisse private banks: Clariden Bank, Bank Leu, Bank Hofmann, BGP Banca di Gestione Patrimoniale and Credit Suisse Fides.
When explaining the rationale behind the merger, Sandmeier pointed out that while Credit Suisse used to be more focused on serving its own private banking division with products in the past, Clariden Leu had a slightly different complementary strategy focusing on public distribution, so the merger was a perfect fit for both firms.