ZKB not poaching Credit Suisse clients – CEO in paper

ZURICH (Reuters) – Zuercher Kantonalbank is not trying to poach clients from embattled Credit Suisse, the state-backed cantonal bank’s chief executive said in a newspaper interview published on Saturday.

Amid a social media storm that sparked unfounded speculation about its stability, Credit Suisse reported sharp outflows in October as wealthy clients moved assets elsewhere, although its chairman has said the situation has since stabilised.

ZKB CEO Urs Baumann told the Neue Zuercher Zeitung his bank was not actively approaching Credit Suisse clients and said ZKB was not using its state backing as a marketing tool amid such market jitters.

“We deliberately do not do that. We are one of the safest banks in the world even without a state guarantee. Firstly, the state guarantee is settled and secondly, it could be taken away from us. Therefore, we manage the bank in such a way that we can survive without it,” he told the paper.

Asked would it mean for the Swiss banking sector and for ZKB if problems at Credit Suisse intensified, he said:

“We want a strong CS. It is a good and reliable partner for us and is particularly important for the corporate banking business in Switzerland. We could not handle many transactions on our own.”

(Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Angus MacSwan)