Credit Suisse appoints Neil Harvey AM vice-chairman
Credit Suisse has named Neil Harvey vice-chairman for asset management for Asia-Pacific. The move allows him to continue to manage key institutional and ultra-wealthy client relationships around the region. He maintains two other roles that he has recently adopted: group co-CEO for Greater China and CEO Hong Kong.
The move, announced internally earlier today, represents an adjustment of the firm’s decision to merge asset management into its private wealth management business, shrinking three divisions into two (the third being investment banking). The enlarged wealth-management division continues to be run by Francesco de Ferrari.
That restructuring, announced early November, saw a number of executives exit, including its Asia-Pacific CEO and its global chairman of wealth management.
In addition, a layer of distribution sales for Asia in asset management was let go. Harvey had been head of the asset-management business in Asia and of global emerging markets at the group level. He then in January took on a new role at the group level, co-heading Greater China with Zhang Liping.
Internally there was a sense or a perception that too many senior people had been taken out of the Asian asset-management business. Harvey was also keen to retain a hand in it, having built up many institutional relationships since assuming the AM role in 2010. But he is not returning to the global emerging-markets responsibility and will restrict his focus to Asia-Pacific.
Thus the firm has settled on his new title as AM vice-chairman, in which he reports functionally to Rob Shafir in New York and regionally to Asia-Pacific CEO Eric Varvel.
He will spend roughly 25% of his time working with asset-management clients, and the rest mostly on the Greater China business. Zhang is the key relationship and origination rainmaker for Credit Suisse in mainland China, while Harvey focuses more on clients in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and helps the firm manage a variety of China-based operations.
Those include joint ventures with ICBC for asset management and Founder Securities for investment banking, which includes domestic M&A plus inbound and outbound primary market transactions. Credit Suisse also has a bank branch and a rep office in Shanghai for fixed income and advisory, and rep offices in Beijing and Guangzhou for advisory, trade and export finance services.