July 2 (Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse Group AG, Switzerland’s biggest bank by market value, may hire hundreds of employees for its Japanese private banking business as it seeks to tap into $14.8 trillion in assets held by the nation’s households.

“I’d like to boost our staff to several hundred,” said Junya Tani, head of Credit Suisse private banking in the nation yesterday, discussing the bank’s business plan for the next 5 years and beyond. The Swiss bank, which started its private banking business in Japan in December, currently has 40 staff and is targeting wealthy individuals with more than 1 billion yen ($10 million) in financial assets, he said.

Regulatory changes allowing banks and brokerages to more easily share customer information are spurring overseas and Japanese banks to bolster their wealth management operations in the world’s second-biggest economy. Credit Suisse follows UBS AG and HSBC Holdings Inc. among European banks in setting up private banking businesses in Japan.

Credit Suisse has attracted “a few” clients in Japan worth more than $1 billion, said Tani, 50, declining to provide further details on assets under management.

The Zurich-based bank’s wealth management business had 667 billion Swiss francs ($620 billion) in assets under management worldwide at the end of March, 8 percent of which was in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the bank’s statements.

Japan relaxed regulations last month, allowing banks and brokerages to share customer information and enabling employees within the same group to serve in dual roles at banking and brokerage units. The rule changes will allow Credit Suisse to sell banking and brokerage investment products to its affluent clients, according to Tani.

Return to Profit

Credit Suisse will seek to harness its existing investment banking business in Japan to find clients, and will offer its private banking customers who are business owners investment banking services, he said.

Credit Suisse returned to profit in the first quarter ended March 31, helped by a recovery at its securities unit. Net income was 2 billion Swiss francs compared with a 2.15 billion- franc loss in the year-earlier period, the Zurich-based bank said in April.

The bank has raised a total of $12.3 billion after $17.8 billion in writedowns and losses. Credit Suisse declined to accept government funds, unlike UBS, which has recorded more than $53 billion in writedowns and losses.

To contact the reporters on this story: Finbarr Flynn in Tokyo at fflynn3@bloomberg.net; Takako Taniguchi in Tokyo at ttaniguhi4@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 1, 2009 22:43 EDT