Credit Suisse sets up Hong Kong-style hawker stalls to treat investors to dim sum, pineapple buns at what could be its swan song conference

Name: SCMP
Telephone: +852-2680-8888

Hong Kong-style hawker stalls were set up at the foyer of the Conrad Hotel to dish out dim sums, pineapple buns and other local delicacies

The highlight of the Swiss bank’s annual calendar covers a range of investment themes, from Asia’s reopening to the US-China chip war, according to its programme

Reading Time:3 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

Mia Castagnone

Published: 10:47am, 21 Mar 2023Updated: 12:55pm, 13 Jun 2023

Credit Suisse kicked off what could be its swan song investment conference in Hong Kong, two days after it was bought by larger rival UBS in a US$3.25 billion takeover brokered by the Swiss central bank.

No expenses were spared for the three-day conference, which was billed before the tumultuous events of last week as proof of the Swiss bank’s turnaround from its previous financial woes. Hong Kong-style hawker stalls were set up at the foyer of the Conrad Hotel to dish out dim sums, pineapple buns and other local delicacies.

The highlight of the Swiss bank’s annual calendar - now in its 26th year - covers a range of investment themes, from Asia’s reopening to the US-China chip war, according to the bank’s latest programme.

Credit Suisse’s chairman Axel Lehmann, who signed the contract to sell his 167-year-old bank to UBS with his counterpart Colm Kelleher four days earlier, cancelled his visit to Hong Kong. He is scheduled to deliver his address on Day Two to welcome Hong Kong’s Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun, who is representing Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu due to “unforeseen commitments”.

Chief executive Ulrich Koerner also skipped the conference in person, assigning the bank’s global equities head Neil Hosie to deliver his Day One welcome speech instead. The conference was closed to the media, eschewing its open access in previous years.

“The banking system in Hong Kong is very resilient and very properly regulated,” Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Lee said at a separate media event in the city. “Credit Suisse is in normal business and we are monitoring the situation. The banking sector is operating smoothly and normally, and the liquidity of the market is also very abundant, so both the HKMA and SFC are monitoring closely, and will be managing the risks.”