The head of the private banking arm of Credit Suisse is confident the bank will hit its targets despite pressures such as the strong Swiss franc and wafer-thin interest rates.

Credit Suisse is confident of achieving its private-banking targets despite the headwinds exerted by a strong Swiss franc and low interest rates, Walter Berchtold, head of the private banking arm, said in an interview with Dow Jones.

The Zurich-listed bank has streamlined money-management operations by sending trading activities to its securities unit, hiring an increasing number of senior private bankers, and forging closer links between the two main bank arms. As the firm expands into onshore locations to reduce its historical offshore Swiss business, it needs more firepower to compete with domestic firms.

"The opportunity for us in the local onshore markets is to bring the global expertise we have to the client and create value for them," Berchtold was quoted by the news service as saying.

Strategy changes are also designed to obtain more business from Credit Suisse clients, in particular those with more than $50 million in assets, in part by putting more tailored in-house products and services at their disposal, the news article said.

In recent interviews with WealthBriefing, senior Credit Suisse executives have repeatedly stressed the importance of the bank’s “one bank” model, in which the investment and private banking arms work closely together in serving clients, such as in the ultra high net worth category.

At the end of April, the private banking arm of Credit Suisse reported a 4 per cent fall in pre-tax income to SFr855 million (around $978 million) in the first quarter of this year from a year before, while net revenues held steady at SFr2.896 billion. The bank did not suffer the same kind of massive losses as its Swiss rival, UBS, in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis although UBS has since recovered, with client inflows resuming.

In the interview, Berchtold said clients are gradually returning to trading, though at not a quick pace to satisfy his aims. He said he expects activity to improve towards the end of this year and the beginning of 2012.

"We need to strike the right balance between revenue generation and disciplined spending. Cutting costs would effectively mean halting expansion in areas where we expect growth," Berchtold said.

Berchtold said Credit Suisse invests SFr500 million annually in information technology. In part due to the changes in banking secrecy and to cater to more sophisticated client needs, banks face higher costs to keep their international platforms up to speed.