There have been ten stages of logo progression for Credit Suisse, all of which are mapped out in this flash animation from the bank's own website.

The logo used for Credit Suisse has evolved throughout the company’s long history to compliment this transition. Since January 2006, Credit Suisse had been pursuing a strategy as an integrated, global bank. To this end, the three divisions of private banking, investment banking, and asset management were brought together under a single roof. This organisational restructuring gave rise to the 2006 logo, which blends the sails from the First Boston logo, with the former Credit Suisse logo.

Mission statement

Credit Suisse divide their mission statement into two sections entitled “Our Vision” and “Our Mission”, they read as follows:

Our Vision

“Our vision is to become the world’s most admired bank, renowned for our expertise in private banking, investment banking and asset management, and most valued for our advice, innovation and execution.”

Our Mission

“Our mission is to set new standards in partnering with our clients and providing them with integrated financial solutions. As a global bank serving clients in every region of the world, cultural diversity is essential to our success. We strive to create an open, respectful workplace that encourages people to work together and with our clients to deliver superior products, services and results and support the success and prosperity of all our stakeholders.”

Company history

Credit Suisse was founded in 1856 under the name Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (SKA, Swiss Credit Institution). It now operates through 405 offices that span across 55 countries, with its headquarters based in Zurich, Switzerland. The bank divides its operations into three sectors; private banking, investment banking, and asset management. It gained a lot of credit for being one of the only major “bulge bracket” banks to weather the financial crisis without any form of governmental support.

In 2004, the bank’s organisational structure was focused into three business units: 1) Credit Suisse 2) Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) 3) Winterthur. In 2006 it divested its insurance business (Winterthur) to AXA, and renamed the bank as Credit Suisse, dropping both the First Boston and CSFB names.

Advertising

PR

Credit Suisse provides information for its customers or simply anyone interested in finance via several media channels. They have a Youtube channel which provides sound financial advice and interviews with leading businessmen from around the world. They also have a Facebook page, a Twitter page, as well as video and audio podcasts available for download from the website or via iTunes. In addition, downloadable .pdf reports on various topics relevant to business and the economy available on their webpage.

Sponsorships

Credit Suisse have embarked on a number of sponsorship deals in sport and culture. They are the main sponsor of the Swiss national football team and have been since 1993. More recently, they appointed tennis player Roger Federer as an ambassador for the company. As part of this arrangement, Credit Suisse agreed to make a significant donation to the Roger Federer foundation, a charity that works to help disadvantage children with education and sport, particularly in Africa. Outside of sport, they are the only sponsor of the New York Philharmonic (America’s oldest symphony orchestra) and are involved with a number of classical music and jazz festivals.