CSFB's Dublin-domiciled hedge fund offering - which still needs to be approved by the Central Bank of Ireland - aims to break the mould by being authorised and regulated. If all goes to plan, CSFB's principal protected fund will give retail investors indirect and diversified exposure to a "basket" of nine hedge funds with varied strategies. This low-risk structure is set to require a minimum investment of only UK£7,000, a much lower figure than that traditionally required by hedge funds.

CFSB has also just announced that it is to focus private banking on onshore, non-Swiss operations. In an interview with Swiss publication Finanz und Wirtschaft, Credit Suisse Private Banking chief executive officer Oswald Gruebel said that growth is twice higher in onshore banking than in offshore: 'we can deliver (from Switzerland) private banking services that are better than those available to clients in their home countries,' said Mr Gruebel.

As an example, Mr Gruebel compared Germany - where he said 90 per cent of equities held for private bank clients are German shares - to Switzerland, where 80 per cent of such equities are non-Swiss shares. Mr Gruebel commented: 'This (international) expertise should not be underestimated.'

He added that Credit Suisse Private Banking's focus is not on creating investment products: 'In principle there is no need to manufacture products ourselves. Our expertise is to find the best products for our clients, worldwide,' he said.