Sao Paulo — Former executives of Credit Suisse in Latin America are launching their own investment firms, in the aftermath of the crisis earlier this year that caused the bank’s shares to plummet and led to a government-brokered sale to UBS in March.
In Brazil, the multi-family office firm Sten announced its entry into the market with seven families as clients. The company was founded by Savio Barros and Bruno Rodrigues, former executives of Credit Suisse, who worked together for eight years in Brazil.
Barros served as Managing Director of Wealth Management and Vice-Chairman of the board of Credit Suisse in Brazil. With over 40 years of experience in the financial market, Barros was until this month the Vice-Chairman of International Wealth Management at Credit Suisse/UBS, but he was already on garden leave, so not actively at the bank.
“Sávio had been with the bank for 41 years, and in early 2022, he decided to leave to pursue other experiences. He had already held some of the highest positions within the bank, including Vice President of the Board. For years, he had wanted to do something different, to become an entrepreneur. However, he had a year and a half of gardening leave ahead of him. So, he left the bank at the beginning of 2022 and had to wait a year and a half before starting work elsewhere,” said Rodrigues, in an interview with Bloomberg Línea.
Rodrigues, on the other hand, became the youngest person in the history of the Swiss bank to reach the position of Executive Director at the age of 28. He left his position as Head of Latin America Investment Consulting at Credit Suisse in May.
“As the head of the investment team in Latin America, I needed to travel to Switzerland for a week every three weeks. My agenda became more focused on managing people personally rather than managing clients and wealth. So, I saw my career drifting away from my long-term interests. When I made the decision to go back to basics, to what I initially did, to open an independent asset management firm, and to go back to portfolio management rather than managing a team of 75 people,” said Rodrigues.
Sten Patrimonial Management is starting out with R$6 billion in assets under management and 13 employees, with an office in Itaim Bibi, São Paulo. “We serve a segment that is relatively concentrated, comprising high net worth families. The composition of our client base is another differentiator. It consists mostly of former employees of the financial market and bankers,” stated Rodrigues.
The launch of Sten follows the arrival of boutique investment bank Capstone in Mexico in April. The firm is also led by a group of former Credit Suisse executives in Latin America’s second largest economy.
Capstone is led by Luis Macias, Christian Ruiz, Rafael Helguero Ruiz, and Jorge Jassan and provides “tailored solutions to mid-cap and large-cap corporates,” including mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, structured financing, and strategic planning.
-- With information from Bloomberg News
-- Updated to add quotes from Bruno Rodrigues, Sten’s co-founder
