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Credit Suisse (CS) has declared its much-vaunted One Bank strategy, which is intended to break down traditional walls between divisions such as private and investment banking to generate more profits from clients, is starting to pay handsome dividends.
Overall, private banking generated an extra CHF1.2 billion ($964 million) in revenues for sister divisions of the group in the first nine months of 2006 - a 30 percent gain over the previous year.
Of this total, CHF620 million was made in investment banking and CHF590 million from asset management, according to Walter Berchtold, CS's head of private banking.
The integration strategy at CS, aimed at eliminating fiefdoms that have in the past led to bankers preventing other divisions from getting access to their clients, may lead to a more general drive within the wealth industry to adopt similar tactics. CS dumped its Wall Street brand of Credit Suisse First Boston as part of the strategy.
Among others banks looking for such integration, Morgan Stanley has signalled it is examining a way to compensate its investment and private bankers when they cross-refer their clients.
At its investor day, CS said the One Bank strategy, launched last year, was delivering cost savings ahead of schedule. It is confident CHF600 million in savings can be achieved in 2007, one year ahead of schedule.