The Swiss Universal Bank of Credit Suisse is reportedly planning a unit to serve institutional clients and certain other clients.

(Item is updated today, adding in Credit Suisse reaction to newswire story.)

Credit Suisse has responded to a 22 August report by Bloomberg stating it had created a new business group to look after ultra-high net worth and institutional clients. The report had said the unit will sit inside the Swiss Universal Bank of Credit Suisse, a separate entity created out of an infrastructure of the group to bolster profitability.

Earlier this year Credit Suisse decided to hold a cash call to raise capital rather than hold an IPO of the Swiss Universal Bank. 

The investment advisory & solutions unit will provide “customized investment solutions and services to institutional clients, UHNWI clients and family offices,” the bank is reported to have said by the news service. Reto Hossli, who previously oversaw the external asset managers in Switzerland for which Credit Suisse acts as a custodian, will be in charge of the new unit, the report said.

However, a spokesperson for the lender told WealthBriefing today that there is no new unit to serve ultra-high net worth individual clients but a new one for institutional clients in Switzerland who will also assume certain limited services for private clients. The new operation, a spokesperson said, "has no international reach and is triggered by leadership changes in the External Asset Manager segment within the Swiss Universal Bank division at Credit Suisse".

In its first-quarter results, announced in April, Credit Suisse said the Swiss Universal Bank division logged adjusted pre-tax income of SFr483 million, the fifth consecutive quarter with year-on-year adjusted pre-tax income growth. Profitability was driven by stable net revenues year-on-year, while adjusted total operating expenses decreased.