The Swiss bank is pushing into the South East Asian country with wealth management operations, eyeing strong growth potential in the country.

Credit Suisse has formally launched wealth management operations in Thailand with a gala dinner in Bangkok attended by clients and eminent officials, signposting its continued drive to win business in Asia.

The dinner was held at the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok yesterday. Attendees included Rapee Sucharitakul, Secretary-General, the Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand and Kesara Manchusree, president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

Switzerland’s second-largest bank has set up a client relationship team through its securities entity, Credit Suisse Securities (Thailand), which operates out of Bangkok, covering clients across the nation, and offering access to an international investment and wealth management platform via its regional private banking hub in Singapore. The operation targets high net worth individuals (defined as having at least $2 million of assets) and ultra-high net worth persons (at least $50 million in assets under management or $250 million in “net wealth”), the bank said in a statement. 

Thailand, while a country that has experienced political instability at times, has a sizeable HNW wealth pool. According to the RBC Wealth Management/Capgemini 2015 Asia Pacific Wealth Report, there are around 91,000 HNWIs in Thailand with more than $1 million in investable assets, owning a total of $456 billion of investable wealth. And according to the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report 2015, there are also an estimated 340 UHNWIs with more than $50 million in net wealth. Moreover, the Credit Suisse’s Asian Family Business Report found that 66 per cent of all listed companies in Thailand with market capitalisation above $50 million are family-owned businesses, representing almost half of total market capitalisation in the country.

The bank said it had established an “initial local team” of investment planners.

“Expanding our business in Thailand is an important milestone in Credit Suisse’s growth strategy in Asia-Pacific, where the bank has committed significant investments and capital to expand its businesses and footprint. Our focus is on being a partner to our high-net-worth individual, entrepreneur and institutional clients and supporting them in their growth ambitions,” said Helman Sitohang, Credit Suisse's chief executive for Asia-Pacific.