Credit Suisse’s Once-Mighty Equities Unit Struggles Under Thiam
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Bank lost a third of its equities market share since 2015
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Executives have pledged to ‘defend and grow’ stocks business
In October 2015, Credit Suisse Group AG Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam and the head of its markets unit, Timothy O’Hara, laid out their vision for a business they said would be key to overhauling one of the world’s biggest investment banks.
“Credit Suisse has consistently been a top-three trader of global stocks since 2010,” O’Hara, a 27-year veteran of the bank, told investors who had gathered in London. “It’s important to us that we invest in our content and execution capabilities to defend and grow our equities franchise.”
Almost two years later, O’Hara is gone and the equities business, once among the biggest on Wall Street, has become a nagging headache for Thiam, 54. The stock-trading group has lost almost one-third of its market share to rivals after a push into Asia backfired, a team wagering money on algorithms caused revenue to plunge by hundreds of millions of dollars, and a new unit set up for the most complex products frustrated traders…
Credit Suisse’s Once-Mighty Equities Unit Struggles Under Thiam
