Under Vasan, who spent much of the last decade dealing with hedge-fund tycoons and previously directed Credit Suisse's e-commerce investments, the client focus in the U.S. has turned from the merely wealthy to "ultra-high-net-worth" clients. In the bank's lexicon, that's either a household net worth of at least $25 million, or $50 million or more in Credit Suisse lending and investing accounts, according to bank officials.
The average client household has roughly $20 million in accounts at Credit Suisse Securities (USA), according to a former executive.
Mitchell declined to comment on the U.S. business, but said about 44 percent of the bank's private banking assets worldwide come from ultra-high-net-worth clients. He also would not comment on whether U.S. brokers have been turning away less wealthy clients as a result of the focus on the ultra-rich.
But Vasan, who has managed Credit Suisse's companywide cost-reduction efforts, is planning to run a tight ship in the
U.S.
He is devising plans to cut back-office costs and oversaw layoffs of about 35 brokers and other staff during the summer, Mitchell said. Rather than replacing experienced brokers who left, he is developing a retention plan for the ones he wants to keep and working on the training program, the former chief financial officer said.
As part of his plan to build net interest revenue at the U.S. brokerage, Vasan at the end of 2013 introduced its first mortgage product for the hyper-rich.
Analysts said Credit Suisse Chief Executive Brady Dougan's public support of Vasan suggests that the bank will allow the U.S. unit to take more credit risk than it has in the past, improving the chances that the lending strategy can work.
Supporting The Parent
Vasan will never generate a profit without convincing Zurich to lower the costs it allocates to the U.S. wealth management business, the former brokerage executives said.