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Keystone
![In September 2019, the shading affair shook Zurich's Paradeplatz, the heart of the Swiss financial center.]()
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In September 2019, the shading affair shook Zurich’s Paradeplatz, the heart of the Swiss financial center.
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![The Head of International Asset Management at Credit Suisse, Iqbal Khan, is stepping down with immediate effect.]()
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Top banker Iqbal Khan, who moved from Credit Suisse to UBS, was shadowed by private detectives.
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Look
![Khan was even observed for days at his place of residence in Herrliberg ZH.]()
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Khan was even observed for days at his place of residence in Herrliberg ZH.
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Bloomberg via Getty Images
![Tidjane Thiam, then CEO of Credit Suisse, had to resign as a result of the shadowing affair.]()
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Tidjane Thiam, then CEO of Credit Suisse, had to resign as a result of the shadowing affair.
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Make the super-rich even richer – and always make sure that the bank earns a lot: That is the job of Iqbal Khan (45).
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He has proven how well he can at least the latter: In October 2015, Khan became head of international asset management at Credit Suisse (CS) – and in just a few years the division’s profit tripled from CHF 0.7 to 2.1 billion.
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That made Khan the shooting star of Paradeplatz. The boy from Dübendorf ZH, who only came to Switzerland from Pakistan at the age of twelve, became the country’s most sought-after banker. His spectacular move to UBS, which culminated in the shadowing affair, made him known beyond the country’s borders.
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Brutal break-in at the former CS department
Now it is clear that the poaching seems to be paying off for UBS. In 2020, the bank’s global asset management, which Khan has been running with Tom Naratil for a year and a half, operated significantly more profitably: in 2019, the division still delivered a profit of 3.4 billion US dollars before taxes. In 2020 it was 4.1 billion – a whopping 20 percent more.
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It was completely different at CS: There, the profit of Khan’s former department collapsed brutally in 2020, from 2.1 to 1.1 billion francs.
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How is something like this possible? Can these developments really be traced back to the personality of Khan?
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Only to a limited extent, says Daniel Regli, an analyst at the Zurich financial services provider Octavian: “At least the slump in profits at CS had little to do with Khan’s departure.”
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It suffered for other reasons: among other things, because of a 400 million write-off on a participation, declining interest income – in particular due to the expiry of an interest rate hedge – and an unfavorable exchange rate trend.
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“Khan has mucked out”
According to Regli, the jump in profits in UBS’s Global Wealth Management is only partly due to Khan: “The bank benefited from the fact that in 2020 there was more trading than ever on the stock exchanges. That increased the transaction-dependent commission income massively. “
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In other areas, however, Khan has achieved important things: The higher interest income can at least partially be seen as his merit, as can the good cost control. Regli: “The number of customer advisors has actually fallen, from more than 10,000 to 9,600. Khan has mucked out.”
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Wherever he is, profits increase
Andreas Venditti, an analyst at Bank Vontobel, sees this courage to change as one of Khan’s greatest strengths: “He looks at things in a new and unbiased manner. That is certainly good for a large bank with a long tradition like UBS – and is particularly popular with younger employees. “
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Khan’s organizational talent is also important: “He has undertaken restructuring measures aimed at shortening decision-making processes.” That saves costs and is also extremely important, for example when it comes to whether or not to grant a wealthy customer a loan.
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Lending to wealthy clients has been critical to Khan’s success at CS. The credit volume grew under his aegis from 45 to 54 billion francs. Venditti: “This enabled him to significantly increase income in the interest business. He’s now trying the same at UBS. “
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The Vontobel man does not believe that CS has given Khan too lightly loans and could atone for them: “The CS division for which he is responsible had to make more loan provisions in 2020 than in other years. In view of the upheavals on the stock exchange, however, these remained within limits. “
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The analyst is therefore of the opinion that Khan’s aggressive credit policy has passed the ultimate stress test.
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Published: 02/28/2021, 1:38 p.m.-Last updated: 28.02.2021, 36 minutes ago–
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