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Credit Suisse Weighs Break With Trading Unit That Minted Billions

  • New CEO tasked with cutting risk from securitized debt trading
  • But that may mean giving up one of firm’s standout units
Credit Suisse Group AG bank branch in Geneva, Switzerland.

Credit Suisse Group AG bank branch in Geneva, Switzerland.

Photographer: Jose Cendon/Bloomberg

When bailed-out US mortgage giant Fannie Mae wanted to sell almost $2 billion of troubled American home loans in early 2017, only one bank showed up for the auction: Credit Suisse Group AG. 

The Swiss seemed unlikely bidders, having been battered by US mortgages in the financial crisis. And the division pushing for the deal -- known as the securitized products group, or SPG -- had contributed to steep losses just months earlier that blindsided top management in Zurich.