In-Depth SWOT Analysis Of Credit Suisse – One Of The World’s Leading Banks

Products & Services By Credit Suisse

• Investment banking
• Private banking
• Asset management
• Shared services

Competitors of Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse competes with many other banks. The top 5 competitors are:

• ABN AMRO Bank
• Barclays Bank
• RBS
• Goldman Sachs Group
• J.P. Morgan Chase

SWOT Analysis of Credit Suisse

The SWOT analysis of Credit Suisse is known as a strategic planning tool that is used by managers of Credit Suisse to do a complete circumstantial analysis of the bank. It is a convenient technique to understand the present Strengths (S), Weakness (W), Opportunities (O) & Threats (T) Credit Suisse is facing in its current business environment. 

Now first let’s begin with the strengths of the company from the SWOT analysis of Credit Suisse.

Strengths of Credit Suisse

• Global Reach: Credit Suisse’s global reach is its unique strength.
• Highly Capitalized: Credit Suisse has proven to be a highly capitalized company in the past. It will surely be able to withstand any type of crisis in the future and wouldn’t need to rely on the government during the crisis.
• Diversified and Highly Skilled Workforce: Diverse people, perspectives and ideas have helped Credit Suisse to build a strong, dedicated and connected workforce. Additionally, the organisation has been investing huge resources in the development and mentoring of its employees.
• Hybrid Working Model: Credit Suisse has adopted a working model that supports collaboration between physical and virtual workplaces and focuses on their employees’ mental health and well-being.
• Great Return on Capital Expenditure: Credit Suisse is fairly successful in the execution of new projects and building new revenue streams, which helps the company to earn a great return on capital expenditure.
• Climate Strategy: Credit Suisse has recognised that our planet urgently needs drastic and lasting action to protect our businesses, communities, and natural environment from the damaging effects of climate change. Additionally, they have been accelerating innovation to scale up climate change solutions and building global partnerships so that investment is channelled towards sustainable projects.

Weaknesses of Credit Suisse

• Weak Financial Position: Credit Suisse’s financial position has weakened since its debt in proportion to its loan stock portfolio is increasing.
• Cannot Face Challenges: When it comes to facing challenges by the new entrants in the market, Credit Suisse has not been able to tackle the situation and lost a small market share in the niche categories. Credit Suisse highly needs to build an internal feedback mechanism directly with its sales team to deal with such challenges.
• Name Changes: Credit Suisse used to set up banks under different names such as Hong Kong Bank of Canada, British Bank of the Middle East, etc for over 100 years. The lack of branding and the name changes may have weakened Credit Suisse’s brand recognition.
• Involvement in Controversies: Credit Suisse has been involved in numerous scandals, frauds and controversies that affect the reliability of the company. Customers may find it a little difficult to trust a company involved in controversies. 

Opportunities for Credit Suisse

• Advanced Digitalization: Credit Suisse has invested a huge amount of money over the past few years to build its online platform. This investment has led to an increase in sales channels. The company can use this opportunity in future to know customers better and serve their needs using data analytics. 

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• Analysing Trends: New trends in consumer behaviour lead to the opening of new markets, Credit Suisse can take advantage of these emerging trends and grow its share in the market.
• Work on Building Strong Position: This will help Credit Suisse to outperform competitors during an economic downturn and build a strong reputation for being one of the safest banks for depositors to invest in. 

Threats to Credit Suisse

• Introduction of New Technologies: New technologies developed by competitors could be a great threat to the industry in the medium to long term future.
• Growth of Local Distributors: The growth of local distributors creates threats in the market as the competition is paying higher margins to local distributors.
• Less Credit Availability: Losses borne by Credit Suisse and investors on a global scale has resulted in less credit being available to customers.
• Changes in Laws and Regulations: Regulatory changes in the countries where Credit Suisse operates can threaten the company’s profitability.
• Other Issues: Growing credit issues, financial losses and unethical behaviour among the banks and financial institutions may lead to a shrink in the pool of prospects and customers.

This ends our in-depth SWOT analysis of Credit Suisse. Let us conclude our learning below.