The new combined unit will be up and running from 1 October under the leadership of Romeo Lacher, currently head of private banking in western Europe, with full implementation of the changes effective from 1 January 2015.
Long-standing Credit Suisse executive Alois Baettig, who currently heads eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, will leave Credit Suisse on 1 October.
The news was revealed in a memo from Credit Suisse private bank co-head Hans Ulrich-Meister and EMEA Chief Executive Gael de Boissard.
“The time is right to bring the two teams back under one management. Significant progress has been made in solving legacy cross-border tax matters with the aim to finalise by the end of 2015,” the memo said.
It added that strategic decisions, such as the “recently closed sale of its German domestic setup” had been executed very effectively and together with the planned sale of the local affluent business in Italy, Western Europe “will be focusing even more on growing the right target client segment going forward”.
Baettig will leave to pursue undisclosed personal interests outside Credit Suisse, according to another memo from Meister.
"Under Alois' leadership, we have built and significantly strengthened our business in EEMEA, which is a highly competitive market," Meister said.
Credit Suisse’s private banking and wealth management division reported a pre-tax loss of £487m (CHF749m) for the second quarter of 2014, which came on the back of a £1bn (CHF 1.6bn) settlement paid to settle all of its outstanding US cross-border matters.
