Credit Suisse: Engineering a Global Financial Services Business

Abstract

In 2010, Credit Suisse was attempting to leverage its global scale by integrating key business processes across geographies and business units. The IT unit, under Global CIO Karl Landert, assumed a pivotal role in enabling business integration. But the IT unit had developed distinctive cultures and capabilities reflecting two very different business units—private banking and investment banking—and different geographies. To help understand and develop the skills needed to support business integration, Credit Suisse’s IT unit developed clearly defined job families and career paths for its 8,000 IT professionals and 4,000 contractors. This case examines the transformation of the IT unit as it implemented its job families and defined IT roles that would help Credit Suisse become a global financial services business.