Credit Suisse cuts back debt origination team

Credit Suisse has scaled down its UK debt origination team and transferred a handful of staff to other roles.

Kevin Roche, a UK debt originator, is leaving the team, as is Neil Slee, a vice-president.

A source close to Credit Suisse said: "The bank is going to focus on UK debt and credit markets but there were too many on the team and the bank decided to shift some into other areas of the business."

Credit Suisse has more than 40 people in its European DCM team. Roche and Slee reported to Chris Marrow, head of European corporate DCM. Marrow joined Credit Suisse in 1993 as head of UK DCM coverage.

Roche has yet to be posted to another part of the bank but Slee will join the debt syndicate desk, reporting to John Fleming, head of European debt syndicate.

Credit Suisse's UK bond business has failed to keep pace with growth in the market over the past three years, where bond volumes have grown more than 50%. UK issuers sold €213bn of bonds in 2003, which grew to €326bn last year.

Credit Suisse acted as a bookrunner on €19bn ($24bn) of bonds last year, down from €30bn in 2005 and €25bn in 2003. The bank has arranged €11bn of bonds for UK companies this year.

Sandeep Agarwal took over in March as head of debt capital markets for financial institutions for Credit Suisse in Europe. Credit Suisse declined to comment.