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HELMAN Sitohang’s rise in Credit Suisse Group over the past two decades has been most impressive. He had joined the banking group in 1998, when Asia’s financial markets were in turmoil, and is partly responsible for maintaining its presence in Southeast Asia during the crisis, especially when other foreign banks were unwilling to do business in his native Indonesia.

Since then, Sitohang has earned a reputation as an astute dealmaker, having overseen more than US$200 billion worth of mergers and acquisitions and capital-raising deals at Credit Suisse. He was also recently appointed as the group’s CEO for Asia-Pacific, taking on additional responsibilities apart from his investment banking duties.

Half-Slovakian and an engineering major, Sitohang began his career at Credit Suisse with a string of high-profile deals in Indonesia. This was thanks to his close relationship with Jakarta’s corporate elite and over the past two decades, he has helped the group become the top investment bank in Indonesia.

“What differentiates us is that we are willing to stand by our clients, be it during the good times or the bad times. This is especially so in Asia, where long-term relationships are very important. Long-term commitment is what we want to demonstrate to our clients because we think it is the right attitude [when it comes to doing business],” he tells The Edge.

The importance of Asia-Pacific to the global banking group cannot be overstated. The regional division reported a pre-tax income of CHF800 million on a revenue of CHF2.5 billion for the first nine months of 2014. This translates into 23% of total group pre-tax income and 13% of total group revenue.

Sitohang’s appointment as the CEO for Asia-Pacific last October saw him take charge of not only investment banking but also private banking and wealth management, and shared services, which centralises business support for the two divisions.

For the first nine months of 2014, Asia-Pacific’s private banking and wealth management business reported new net assets of CHF16 billion or an 80% year-on-year increase. Assets under management amounted to CHF143 billion or a 27% y-o-y increase.

These figures underscore the magnitude of the opportunities in the region, Sitohang notes. “In terms of absolutes, growth in the private banking and wealth management business will be bigger. The beauty is that the collaboration between the investment banking and private banking and wealth management businesses is strong, as evidenced by Asia-Pacific having the highest growth in collaboration revenue generated through cross-divisional referral over the past few years.

Internally, we have worked closely together and it has been a harmonious relationship.”

In the meantime, the regional division’s bread-and-butter investment banking business has remained strong. In Malaysia, despite a dearth of overall fundraising activity last year, Credit Suisse was at the forefront of the biggest deals.

It acted as the joint global coordinator for the US$359 million initial public offering (IPO) of Boustead Plantations Bhd and the US$339 million IPO of Icon Offshore Bhd. Additionally, it was the joint book runner for the US$1.1 billion share placement exercise for CIMB Group Holdings Bhd.

Sitohang lauds the dynamism of Malaysian enterprises, which he says complements his overall vision of Asia-Pacific. A previous advertising campaign prominently featured him with AirAsia Bhd founder Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, who praised Credit Suisse’s relationship with the airline from its humble beginnings more than a decade ago.

“When we have a client, be it small or big, we offer a broad commitment in terms of relationship, products, services, views and research, among others,” explains Sitohang. “We have extensive knowledge of the markets in the region and we want to be seen as the entrepreneur’s bank of Asia.”

He sees Asian enterprises moving up the value chain with a push towards “new economy” businesses, such as technology start-ups. He believes this will be the key trend in Asia when it comes to deal-making and other investment banking opportunities.

“For example, in China over the last few years, the technology sector has been very strong. We just did the Alibaba Inc IPO, for which Credit Suisse was the left lead bank. At some point, the new economy push should arrive in India as well as Southeast Asia, so that is one of the trends.”

Another catalyst is the expected economic expansion of Asian giants such as India and Indonesia, both of which recently elected leaders with growth-driven manifestos.

“The oil price is currently below US$50. While Malaysia unfortunately benefits the least from this [due to its position as a net exporter of oil], countries such as Indonesia and India would now have more to spend on infrastructure after cutting their respective subsidies, which previously put extra pressure on their budgets,” Sitohang observes.

As the emerging markets story once again comes under threat due to the gloomy global economic outlook as well as the weakening of Asian currencies against the dollar, the Indonesian banker feels that Credit Suisse is well positioned to weather a regional economic crisis similar to those in 1997/98 and 2008/09.

“I do think so. We weathered the Asian crisis in 1998 and actually strengthened our commitment to our clients at the time. In 2008/09, we did not require a capital injection from the government while a few of our global competitors did. We will continue to demonstrate our long-term commitment again, during the good times and bad.”

While the Asia-Pacific division under Sitohang may not be able to repeat its investment banking achievements, the region’s growth story seems intact for now. Sitohang says Credit Suisse will continue to capitalise on its new and existing relationships with Asia’s up-and-coming entrepreneurs.

“The most important goal for me is to grow in the region with our clients and provide our broad spectrum of services. Our vision is to be seen as the entrepreneur’s bank and that we are willing to grab opportunities together with our clients.”

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This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on January 19-25, 2015.

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