Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE:CS) has agreed to sell its global trust business, which provides offshore services to wealthy clients, as it embarks on a restructuring of its business in the wake of a string of scandals.
A billion-dollar lawsuit involving the Swiss bank's trust arm in Singapore sparked the sale, with the investment bank saying it will wind down its legal entities and "residual businesses" in the coming years.
Reports indicated that The Bank of NT Butterfield & Son will take over Credit Suisse's trust business in Guernsey, Singapore, and the Bahamas, while Gasser Partner Trust will take over the Liechtenstein business, though Credit Suisse will continue to serve a small number of clients.
The deals are set to close in the first half of 2023.
Ulrich Körner, Credit Suisse's new chief executive, announced the disposals as the first part of his restructuring of the troubled bank.
In August, Koerner succeeded Thomas Gottstein as CEO after two years of turmoil marked by huge losses, a criminal conviction for the bank in Switzerland, and a 40% drop in its share price.
Koerner was tasked with scaling back investment banking and cutting costs by more than US$1bn.
The trust division is the subject of an US$800mln lawsuit filed this week in Singapore over the bank's relationship with Georgia's former prime minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili.
Ivanishvili alleged Credit Suisse's trust unit failed to take steps to prevent him from losing US$1.27bn and to prevent losses related to a fraud committed by former Geneva-based banker Patrice Lescaudron.
His claim was deemed excessive by the trust unit, which has requested it be dismissed by the court