Credit Suisse’s head of commercial real estate finance, Derek Rich, has left the bank just a year after he joined.
Rich’s appointment at the Swiss bank was designed to revitalise its once-mighty commercial lending business and utilise his experience in origination and distribution.
Rich joined Credit Suisse from special servicer LNR Property. Previous to that appointment he was head of distribution for Europe and Asia at UBS and worked in origination at Deutsche Bank.
At LNR, which services CMBS and distressed loans, he was head of investment, overseeing non-performing loan acquisition underwriting and due diligence.
During his time at Credit Suisse Rich oversaw deals including the £224m financing of NorthStar Realty’s purchase of UK care homes from Griffin-American Healthcare.
Credit Suisse had also been expected to return to the CMBS market under his leadership, with at least one issue having been earmarked for the third quarter of this year.
However, like many investment banks, Credit Suisse delayed the issuance as a lack of investor appetite made profitable distribution harder to achieve.
Credit Suisse announced plans in October to cut 5,600 staff as it shifted focus from investment banking to wealth management.
The bank employs 6,600 staff in London, a large proportion of whom are in investment banking.
Up to 30% of the UK workforce, equating to around 2,000 jobs, is expected to be cut.
The London job cuts began last month at the bank’s fixed-income division.
