"Legends" are leaving Credit Suisse but clients don't seem to care
Given that UBS is closing two thirds of Credit Suisse's investment bank and reducing its now global 120,000 workforce by 40,000 people, the near constant drip of senior departures from Credit Suisse is hardly surprising.
While Credit Suisse people are lamenting the disappearance of popular long term colleagues, however, the number of clients extending their condolences seems surprisingly small.
"You get hundreds of people saying goodbye, but there are only one or two comments from clients," says one senior Credit Suisse equities professional. "It's strange that no clients ever seem to post to say, 'Thank you for your service, it's been great working with you and hope to work with you again'."
The latest legend to announce publicly that he's leaving Credit Suisse is Tim Carswell, whom we recognised in 2017 as one of Credit Suisse's rare "brilliant" people deserving of the bank's once generous pay. Carswell announced his departure after 16 years on LinkedIn last week. Over 300 people reacted; 140 people commented on what an amazing friend, colleague and human he'd been. As befits a lovely and caring person, Carswell has responded to almost everyone.
Clients however, are strangely quiet on Carswell's post. They were also pretty silent when another legend, Michael Swallow left last month.
"Maybe clients never really valued the top Credit Suisse people above the next sales rep," adds the Credit Suisse source, provocatively. "Or maybe clients just don't want to admit that they used salespeople and valued them highly. It's strange though - if you've worked in sales for 20 years you should know CIOs, portfolio managers and analysts."
It's not clear where Carswell is going next. Rumours suggest that he's found something elsewhere. Carswell didn't respond to a request to comment, and UBS declined to comment.
It's thought that very few members of Credit Suisse's London equity sales team have gone to UBS. The few UBS movers are thought to include James MacDonald (an MD) and Richard Ayres (hired from SocGen in 2022). Alongside Carswell and Swallow, the leavers include Freya Sproull (now at JPM) and Charlie Cooper (now at RBC) and Martijn de Bruin. Jonathan Brown and Ender Oznam are also thought to have left, but this has not been confirmed.
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