Credit Suisse has named David Miller the new head of its investment banking and capital markets business, replacing James Amine after four years in charge, as the lender looks to improve performance at the division.
Mr Miller, who has worked for the Swiss bank for 22 years, including as global head of credit and leveraged finance, inherits a unit that swung to a pre-tax loss in the third quarter and last month issued a cautious outlook for the remainder of the year.
Mr Amine, also a veteran of the bank, will leave the executive board and become head of private credit opportunities, based in New York, Credit Suisse said in a statement. Alongside the promotion of Mr Miller, Eric Varvel was named chairman of the investment banking and capital markets unit and Harold Bogle the vice-chairman of the group executive office.
Credit Suisse pinned some of the blame for a poor third quarter on a lack of mergers and acquisitions and initial public offerings, as well as “challenging market conditions”. A weak quarter in investment banking was offset by robust inflows into its wealth management business.
Andreas Venditti, a banks analyst at Vontobel, said: “We know that Credit Suisse’s [investment bank] business is not going extremely well at the moment. This year, it looks like they’re not going to be anywhere near their return targets.”
Mr Venditti said he expected Mr Miller to reduce costs at the division. “What surprises some people is the lack of flexibility on the cost side: costs are pretty stable despite significant declines on the top line.”
Mr Miller’s appointment is the latest in a string of changes at the top of investment banks in Europe, which are struggling to boost profitability at a time of depressed M&A volumes and a choppy market for IPOs and securities trading.
In July, Garth Ritchie, the head of Deutsche Bank’s investment bank, left the lender and was replaced by its chief executive Christian Sewing. Tim Throsby, who held a similar role at Barclays, left the UK-based bank in March, while UBS’s investment bank is under new leadership following the departure of Andrea Orcel earlier this year.
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The management change comes as the bank’s chief executive, Tidjane Thiam, looks to draw a line under a damaging corporate espionage scandal that erupted after the bank hired private investigators to track former wealth management chief Iqbal Khan, who recently defected to UBS.
Mr Thiam thanked Mr Amine for his “invaluable contributions” and “relentless dedication to clients” and said that Mr Miller’s “client focus, deep understanding [and] people leadership skills . . . put him in a strong position to lead [the investment bank]”.
One person briefed on Mr Miller’s appointment said Credit Suisse’s investment bank needed a “refresh”, noting that it had slipped down the league tables for capital markets transactions and M&A in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
“David will prioritise improving M&A and look at galvanising the rest of the division,” the person added.
The moves prompted a reshuffle of executives further down the ranks at Credit Suisse. Jeff Cohen, global head of leveraged finance capital markets since 2017, will fill Mr Miller’s former role, according to an internal company memo. Mr Cohen will report to Brian Chin, chief executive of global markets.
Mathew Cestar, the co-head of investment banking and capital markets in Emea, will move to join Mr Amine at the new private credit opportunities venture.
