"UBS MDs felt threatened by the quality of people at Credit Suisse"

efinancialcareers.com:

Whatever you hear about Credit Suisse, it was not a bad place to work. I know: I spent most of my career working for the bank's equities business in the US.  

It wasn't just me. A lot of people say the same. Credit Suisse had a great culture and atmosphere: there was a lack of bitchiness and internal competition that's rare in banking. People would join from Goldman Sachs and tell us how special it was. Others would leave and be surprised to find out that it was different elsewhere. — A former colleague told me how lucky I was — he'd moved on and regretted it. In the Credit Suisse equities business, we covered each other's backs and no one was busy trying to stitch anyone else up.

The culture wasn't created by the executives or even the heads of the business. It came from people like me: loyal, long-serving managing directors who'd worked together for enough time to trust each other and enjoy each other's company. We created a positive work atmosphere and people who worked there recognized that. 

So, what went wrong? The bank had been spiraling downwards for years, but it was the series of one-offs that weren't really one-offs that cumulatively took the bank down. Clients started pulling money a little bit last year, but people started getting nervous about the very existence of the bank in the final few months. 

Even so, equities at Credit Suisse was a great place to work until the every end. We were ranked in the top three in Europe only 18 months or so ago, and we had very top quality people who remained loyal to the bank even though they hadn't been looked after financially for the past few years. It was a case of 'better the devil you know', and Credit Suisse was a pretty good devil compared to the rest. 

UBS MDs