- Credit Suisse’s investment bankers are not waiting around to find out if UBS will give them jobs.
- Some bankers have already jumped ship while others are actively looking to be hired elsewhere.
- Insider spoke with Wall Street recruiters to find out which bankers are being eyed by rivals.
In the days since its fire sale to UBS, one question has swirled around Credit Suisse: What is going to happen to its employees?
UBS executives have pulled no punches when discussing the future of Credit Suisse’s investment banking teams and trading desks. In short: the bigger of the two Swiss banks is eager to acquire Credit Suisse’s wealth management business, but sees little upside in its markets operations, and very little interest in its investment banking division beyond certain teams, like US tech.
Meanwhile, the planned spinoff of Credit Suisse’s investment bank into a boutique bank spearheaded by longtime dealmaker Michael Klein is all but dead.
The net result of these events: a flood of bankers are either free agents or open to entertaining offers.
Will Tan, a managing partner at the Singapore-based Principal Partners who has been fielding requests from Credit Suisse staffers, says he’s worried there aren’t enough open slots to fill all of the “displaced” Credit Suisse employees.
“I don’t think the market has enough roles to absorb all of that,” he said, while declining to name names.
Tan added that, at least in Asia, opportunities on the buy-side or within banks’ private wealth divisions are more plentiful if Credit Suisse bankers are forced to look for new roles.
Since the sale to UBS, leveraged finance executives Jeb Slowik, Matthew Fishman, and Ryan Williams cut bait for other opportunities. Just this week, a group of Latin America bankers decamped for Deutsche Bank, while senior industrials banker Doug Pierson left for Moelis, Bloomberg reported.
It’s not just Credit Suisse bankers, either. The merger may imperil UBS staffers deemed redundant after the combination.
“It’s not like it’s just the Credit Suisse side and everyone at UBS is fine,” one Wall Street recruiter told Insider.
“They haven’t made big announcements. We’re just getting worried people,” the recruiter added.
Credit Suisse’s sale to UBS exacerbates an exodus that was already in place following a series of financial missteps and scandals. After Archegos blew up in early 2021, resulting in a $5.5 billion loss for Credit Suisse, roughly 90 top bankers and traders left the bank, Insider reported at the time.
The bleeding didn’t stop in 2022, which saw a slew of senior departures, including investment banking chief Christian Meissner and global banking cohead Jens Welter. Barclays lifted out a quartet of junk bond and distressed debt traders last summer, and in November one of the street’s top young mortgage traders, rising star David Israel, left for Morgan Stanley.
Despite the exodus, Credit Suisse remains a home to talent that Wall Street rivals are eager to poach. There are also talented names at Credit Suisse that recruiters are admittedly keeping secret so as not to tip off the competition.
It’s not just bankers. On the trading side of the bank, Jason Safriet, Credit Suisse’s head of US credit sales is said to be a target along with roughly 10 of his staffers. James “JB” Garth, head of special situations trading, is also cropping up as a talented distressed and high-yield trader who has drawn interest, according to recruiters.
In an attempt to identify some of the top Credit Suisse investment bankers whose resumes will stand out from the crowd, Insider spoke with Wall Street recruiters, headhunters, and other industry experts. Here are 19 names that rose to the top.
A spokesperson for Credit Suisse declined to comment for this story.
Dean Decker
Decker was named to MergerLinks’ list of top consumer goods bankers in 2019. In 2017, Reuters reported that Credit Suisse had managed to retain Decker even after he and a group of teammates accepted positions at Jefferies.
Jeff Cohen
A two-decade Credit Suisse veteran, Cohen heads up Credit Suisse’s leveraged and acquisition finance business from New York. Previously, Cohen was Credit Suisse’s head of global credit products and global head of leveraged finance capital markets.
Jeffrey Cohen
The vice chairman of Credit Suisse’s global retail investment banking business, Cohen joined the Swiss bank from Lazard in 2016. Cohen is also no stranger to UBS, where he led the investment bank’s retail coverage before leaving in 2005. The consumer retail veteran has worked on deals for brand names including Walmart and Walgreens.
Steve Geller
This January, Geller, a managing director, was tapped to head up Credit Suisse’s global M&A efforts after the departure of former top banker Cathal Deasy, Reuters reported.
Laurence Hainault
Hainault leads Credit Suisse’s telecom banking business in Europe. The managing director was included in MergerLinks’ 2019 top rankings of European telecom and media bankers.
Joe Hannon
A managing director at Credit Suisse, Hannon leads the bank’s M&A efforts in the UK and was featured in MergerLinks’ 2020 ranking of top UK investment bankers.
Scott Lindsay
M&A veteran Lindsay has been orchestrating deals at Credit Suisse since the early 1980s. The global chairman of M&A has worked on transactions involving blue-chip names including BlackRock, Sanofi, and Bayer. Before banking, Lindsay was a senior economic adviser to the Reagan administration.
George Matsuzaka
Credit Suisse’s Matsuzaka was named to MergerLinks’ top rankings of FIG bankers in North America in 2020. In 2018, Matsuzaka was tapped to co-head Credit Suisse’s insurance investment banking efforts in the Americas, Reuters reported.
Jon Moneypenny
Credit Suisse tapped Moneypenny and Marc Warm to lead the bank’s leverage finance capital markets business in 2019, Reuters reported, reporting to Jeff Cohen. Moneypenny was previously the head of US loan capital markets.
Robin Rankin
A managing director at Credit Suisse, Rankin was featured in MergerLink’s top rankings of consumer goods bankers in North America in 2021.
Mathieu Salas
Salas heads up Credit Suisse’s fintech banking coverage, a role he took on when he rejoined the bank in 2018 from Citi.
Rob Santangelo
Santangelo, a managing director, is Credit Suisse’s global co-head of energy and infrastructure investment banking. Per his Credit Suisse bio, Santangelo also serves as vice chair of the bank’s equity capital markets origination business.
Marc Schmidt
Schmidt coheads the bank’s TMT banking efforts in Europe. The managing director was featured in MergerLinks’ top list of EMEA technology bankers in 2020.
Niron Stabinsky
Dubbed “Mr. SPAC” by associates for his role overseeing some of the largest special purpose acquisition deals in recent years, Credit Suisse banker Stabinsky was once courted by Jefferies before ultimately deciding to stay at the Swiss Bank, the Wall Street Journal reported in 2021. Investment banking volumes at Credit Suisse were boosted by its SPAC coverage during the pandemic, but blank check deals have since fallen off.
Marco Superina
A Credit Suisse veteran since 1997, Superina heads Credit Suisse’s M&A efforts in the firm’s native Switzerland. The managing director was named to MergerLinks’ first-half 2019 top investment bankers list for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
Spyros Svoronos
The global head of industrials investment banking at Credit Suisse, Svoronos rejoined the Swiss bank in 2022 after spending one year at Lazard. Prior to joining Lazard, Svoronos spent more than two decades at Credit Suisse across industrials, chemicals, and transportation coverage teams.
Phil Tamplin
Tamplin, a managing director, has been at Credit Suisse since 2006. Tamplin now heads the bank’s US high yield capital markets efforts.
Mark Walsh
Walsh joined Credit Suisse in 2013 from Morgan Stanley, IFR reported. He now is the co-head of Credit Suisse’s leveraged finance capital markets teams in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Marc Warm
Warm coheads Credit Suisse’s leveraged finance capital markets business alongside Jon Moneypenny. Warm previously led Credit Suisse’s high-yield capital markets team in the US, Reuters reported.
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