Strategic partnership between Credit Suisse and the University of St.Gallen

22 March 2021. A key focus of the partnership is the development of expertise at the interfaces between finance, management and law. The University of St.Gallen is establishing the HSG Center for Financial Services Innovation for this purpose and will build up new interdisciplinary research areas. Credit Suisse is facilitating the establishment of the Center and the creation of several professorships with an initial contribution of CHF 10 million. The bank will also be the founding and strategic partner of the HSG Center for Financial Services Innovation for the next ten years.

In addition, Credit Suisse is supporting the creation of the HSG Learning Center with a donation of CHF 3 million to the HSG Foundation. The HSG Learning Center will open in February 2022, and will act as an innovative center of work and thought that will facilitate new forms of learning and interaction between students, lecturers, and industry practitioners.

Furthermore, Credit Suisse and the University of St.Gallen have agreed a number of different cooperation activities. For example, Credit Suisse will become the HSG Campus Bank, lend its name to a Co-Creation Space in the HSG Learning Center, and act as partner to a variety of campus and HSG activities, including workshops and presentations for students relating to career planning, skills development, and specialist topics from the world of financial services. A total of CHF 7 million will be invested in various cooperation activities over the contract term of ten years.

Views on the partnership

André Helfenstein, CEO of Credit Suisse (Switzerland) Ltd.

"Through our partnership with HSG, we want to contribute to the strengthening of Switzerland as a center of education and business. As a financial services provider, we deal intensively with themes such as digitalization, innovation and entrepreneurship. The HSG Center for Financial Services Innovation will provide valuable impetus for academic research on issues that are relevant to Credit Suisse. At the same time, as a strategic partner, we can ensure that this research has a direct practical application. I very much look forward to our collaboration with HSG. Well-educated young people are of key importance to both Switzerland and Credit Suisse."

Professor Bernhard Ehrenzeller, President of the University of St.Gallen

"The University of St.Gallen is very pleased to be able to expand this area of research at the interfaces between finance, management and law, which is very important from both a Swiss and an international standpoint. This provides us with the ideal platform to position ourselves as one of the globally leading institutions in this field of research. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Credit Suisse for making this possible for us. In addition to our essential basic public funding, cooperations of this nature with external partners facilitate international research, teaching, and training at HSG at the very highest level. We are proud to be embarking on the largest-ever research cooperation project for the University of St.Gallen with Credit Suisse, and we hope to be able to build on this cooperation as a platform for additional partnerships."

Stefan Kölliker, Member of the Cantonal Council and Director of Education of the Canton of St. Gallen, and President of the Board of Governors of the University Council

"If the University of St.Gallen is to remain a leading business university and maintain its high level of value creation for our region, it needs to develop permanently and invest in research, teaching and training. Thanks to its partnership with Credit Suisse, HSG can tap into funds that simply would not be available without such initiatives and projects. I am delighted that Credit Suisse is investing in groundbreaking research and teaching together with the University of St.Gallen."

Dr. Urs Landolf, Trustee of the HSG Foundation

"We are extremely pleased that Credit Suisse is contributing to the establishment of the new HSG Learning Center. The innovative center of learning is currently being built and is set to open its doors in the spring of 2022, as planned. It will provide students, lecturers, industry practitioners, and the HSG community with a new space in which to think and learn. The project will be wholly financed by donations, making it the largest fundraising initiative in HSG's history to date."

Additional information on the HSG Center for Financial Services Innovation

With its new HSG Center for Financial Services Innovation, the University of St.Gallen is investing in the development of future-oriented expertise at the interfaces between finance, management and law. By creating the corresponding professorships, it is seeking to advance research and teaching in the important field of financial market innovation. The University of St.Gallen can, in turn, offer research and teaching at the very highest level in future-oriented subject areas. The aims of the newly created Center are as follows:

• To increase academic excellence in the areas of finance and financial innovation, and to advance HSG's position in impact-oriented research at the very highest level with a focus on innovative themes in the areas of financial markets and financial services.
• To deliver – through the newly created professorships affiliated with the Center and the associated bundling of expertise and collaborative networking – profile-raising results in the latest interdisciplinary questions in the fields of digital ecosystems and platform economies, entrepreneurship, financial market regulation, fintech, sustainable finance and private markets. The focus will also extend to the insurance industry.
• To optimize the education of HSG students in current financial industry topics and to increase the pool of graduates qualified to become future managers in the financial sector.
• To expand collaboration between the university and the private sector in questions of particular significance for the financial industry.

Professor Manuel Ammann has been appointed Academic Director of the Center, while a Managing Director will oversee its operational activities. It is planned that the Center will be established in 2022 and developed in the following years. In addition to Credit Suisse, further partners for the Center are being sought.

Guaranteed freedom of research and teaching

When entering into partnerships, the University of St.Gallen seeks long-term agreements in pioneering and future-oriented research areas. The freedom of all research and teaching must be guaranteed in any scenario, and this is naturally enshrined in the agreements concluded with Credit Suisse. The University of St.Gallen is therefore complying with the requirements of the University Act and University Statutes, as well as with its internally issued "Basic principles of self-financing" and "Information and disclosure guidelines" [available in German only].

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