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According to a article posted on Sharenet, Credit Suisse has left South Africa. This is not good news for a country such as South Africa looking to attract business and new investments to boost its ailing economy and to reduce its high unemployment rate
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The Sharenet article can be found below
Credit Suisse pulls out of South Africa in global shift -sources By Tiisetso Motsoeneng
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Credit Suisse has pulled out of South Africa after more than a decade as part of chief executive Tidjane Thiam's bank-wide revamp, three sources with knowledge of the matter said. Switzerland's second largest bank is in the final stages of a three-year drive to focus on managing the money of wealthy investors and scale back investment banking. "They are gone. It's a total withdrawal wrapped up some weeks back," one of the sources said.
In 2013 Credit Suisse, which declined to comment, told customers in nearly 50 markets, including Congo and Angola, that it would end cross-border wealth management business with them. Credit Suisse's website says it has offices in approximately 50 countries and lists Johannesburg as its only sub-Saharan African location. Thiam, who in September ruled himself out as a candidate for political office in his native Ivory Coast, has been the driving force behind the changes at the Swiss bank. Like other European players, Credit Suisse has been struggling to compete with the U.S. investment banks which dominate Wall Street. Credit Suisse, which had around 30 staff at its Johannesburg office, re-entered South Africa in 2006 after leaving in the 1980s under pressure from anti-apartheid campaigners.
QUIET WITHDRAWAL
The Swiss bank's quiet withdrawal comes months after its rival Deutsche Bank said it would wind up its advisory, corporate broking and sponsor-services to refocus on Europe and its home market after three years of losses. Credit Suisse is quitting a country whose economy has slipped into a recession for the first time since 2009, and where activity in mergers and acquisitions halved in the first six months of the year to its lowest level in a decade. Unlike Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank plans to maintain a physical presence offering debt capital markets, fixed income and treasury services.
"We announced earlier this year that we were reviewing our operations in Johannesburg, and subsequently took the decision to close the office," Credit Suisse spokesman James Quinn said in an email. "South Africa remains a focus for Credit Suisse, and we continue to serve clients across our wealth management and investment banking franchises." Credit Suisse will offer private banking services for well-heeled South Africans from London, Zurich and Dubai, another source said. Its research teams in these cities would continue to cover selected blue chip South African companies, they added. The Swiss bank initially teamed up with Standard Bank, South Africa's biggest lender by assets, to create a joint venture focusing on equity research, sales, trading and equity capital markets deals. But it ended this four years later, saying it would develop its offering of trading, private trading and investment bank.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; additional reporting by Michael Shields in Zurich; editing by Alexander Smith)
First Published: 2018-11-07 12:10:46
Updated 2018-11-07 14:40:42
The original article can be found here
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Credit Suisse has pulled out of South Africa after more than a decade as part of chief executive Tidjane Thiam's bank-wide revamp, three sources with knowledge of the matter said. Switzerland's second largest bank is in the final stages of a three-year drive to focus on managing the money of wealthy investors and scale back investment banking. "They are gone. It's a total withdrawal wrapped up some weeks back," one of the sources said.
In 2013 Credit Suisse, which declined to comment, told customers in nearly 50 markets, including Congo and Angola, that it would end cross-border wealth management business with them. Credit Suisse's website says it has offices in approximately 50 countries and lists Johannesburg as its only sub-Saharan African location. Thiam, who in September ruled himself out as a candidate for political office in his native Ivory Coast, has been the driving force behind the changes at the Swiss bank. Like other European players, Credit Suisse has been struggling to compete with the U.S. investment banks which dominate Wall Street. Credit Suisse, which had around 30 staff at its Johannesburg office, re-entered South Africa in 2006 after leaving in the 1980s under pressure from anti-apartheid campaigners.
QUIET WITHDRAWAL
The Swiss bank's quiet withdrawal comes months after its rival Deutsche Bank said it would wind up its advisory, corporate broking and sponsor-services to refocus on Europe and its home market after three years of losses. Credit Suisse is quitting a country whose economy has slipped into a recession for the first time since 2009, and where activity in mergers and acquisitions halved in the first six months of the year to its lowest level in a decade. Unlike Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank plans to maintain a physical presence offering debt capital markets, fixed income and treasury services.
"We announced earlier this year that we were reviewing our operations in Johannesburg, and subsequently took the decision to close the office," Credit Suisse spokesman James Quinn said in an email. "South Africa remains a focus for Credit Suisse, and we continue to serve clients across our wealth management and investment banking franchises." Credit Suisse will offer private banking services for well-heeled South Africans from London, Zurich and Dubai, another source said. Its research teams in these cities would continue to cover selected blue chip South African companies, they added. The Swiss bank initially teamed up with Standard Bank, South Africa's biggest lender by assets, to create a joint venture focusing on equity research, sales, trading and equity capital markets deals. But it ended this four years later, saying it would develop its offering of trading, private trading and investment bank.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; additional reporting by Michael Shields in Zurich; editing by Alexander Smith)
First Published: 2018-11-07 12:10:46
Updated 2018-11-07 14:40:42
The original article can be found here
While president Jacob Zuma is gone, his long lasting legacy of poor economic policy implementation, sky rocketing government budget deficits, increasing unemployment, weak economic growth and large scale corruption will haunt the South African economy for years and years to come as it looks to rebuild and restart it's ailing economy. One can only hope other international firms dont feel the need to leave SA's shores., as this is the last thing SA needs.