Winners rationale

If ever there was a playbook for private banks to follow, it would be Credit Suisse’s team efforts in Japan in 2020, when all its different units came through in delivering a customised solution to the client.

Market volatility was high in the first few months of 2020 but Credit Suisse’s team worked with the in-house investment banking solutions team to deliver on big capital market transactions.

The bank’s Strategic Advisory & Private Asset Group (SAPAG) supported its relationship managers to realise a series of equity block trades, IPO deals, and introduction of corporate finance deals for entrepreneur corporate owner clients. This helped Credit Suisse achieve a record high in equity block trades.

The diligent and well-focused client approach — extended by a close collaboration of relationship managers, product specialists, and portfolio consultants — helped Credit Suisse’s team in Japan bring significant Premium Mandate deals.

In a particularly testing year for financial institutions globally, the Japan franchise of Credit Suisse in 2020 demonstrated what it means to work as one unit and serve clients as well as profit from them. This helped the bank cement a place for itself as the advisor of choice in a largely relationship- and loyalty-driven market, and makes it the winner of Asian Private Banker’s Best Private Bank – Japan Domestic.