The end of Credit Suisse : which Swiss banks benefitted?

The aim of this master’s thesis is to find out which Swiss banks benefitted from the end of Credit Suisse, resulting in a massive outflow of client assets followed by an emergency takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS in March 2023 (Handelszeitung, 2023). Essentially, this thesis assumes three different areas (dimensions) when talking about benefitting: money/asset inflow, employee/know-how and reputation. To gather the relevant data and information, a multi-method approach was employed: a systematic analysis of 126 newspaper articles from 8 different newspapers in combination with a review of annual reports, both based on the main methodology the document analysis, and insights from three expert interviews. The situation at Credit Suisse created huge growth opportunities for other banks that only occur once in an entire generation of bankers (Babic, 2023). Zürcher Kantonalbank stands out as a major beneficiary of money/asset inflow, primarily due to its state guarantee and its stability resulting in a strong reputation. UBS benefitted the most in terms of reputation as it was seen as the saviour of CS in times of need, consequently its image has emerged positively from the emergency merger. The Raiffeisen Group also temporarily benefitted in terms of reputation and NNM inflow, but probably only as a safe bank at that moment and not as a preferred tong term banking partner. EFG International and Julius Bär emerged as the winners in terms of employee/know-how benefit, both admitted to having actively sought the benefit. However, whether the hiring of employees was ultimately worthwhile in terms of NNM inflow cannot be conclusively answered yet, as experts say this usually takes 1-2 years in each case. The results also reveal that no bank has managed to stand out in all three types of benefit or to benefit in general. The findings of this thesis show that a bank's reputation plays a major role with customers. Furthermore, this paper underlines the need to proceed with caution when poaching employees from a bank in crisis. While the research focuses on the end of CS and specifically which Swiss banks benefitted, it provides an understanding of how banking crises influence competition between banks and how competitors might benefit the most in such situations. Future research could extend the term “benefit”. Furthermore, long term shifts in assets and employees could be explored, by repeating the news research in the future and including foreign newspapers to enhance the view.