Credit Suisse reportedly explores bringing back First Boston brand
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Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) is considering bringing back the First Boston investment banking brand name as the Swiss lender explores ways to reverse the downward pressure seen in its investment bank returns, Bloomberg reported Friday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
In doing so, executives proposed that Credit Suisse (CS) should rename its U.S. investment banking operations, one of the people told Bloomberg, noting that there's no immediate plans to spin off the troubled unit.
"We will update on progress on our comprehensive strategy review when we announce our third quarter earnings; it would be premature to comment on any potential outcomes before then,” a spokesperson for Credit Suisse told Seeking Alpha via email.
For some context, Credit Suisse (CS) took an initial stake in First Boston in 1978 and started using the name 10 years later. In 1990, CS acquired control of the investment bank. It wasn't until 2005 (after 17 years) when CS decided to retire First Boston's name from its investment bank division.
The potential move comes as the Swiss firm sees huge drawdowns in its investment banking net revenues, down 43% Y/Y in Q2. Earlier this month (Sep. 2), Credit Suisse considered cutting around 5K jobs.