. Few Wall Street bosses dream of being number six or seven in the league tables; Klein might be an exception.
Their proposed solution is to bridge the gap with financial innovation. Credit Suisse is setting up joint ventures between CS First Boston and the parent’s trading and wealth management businesses, according to a person familiar with the matter. These are essentially revenue-sharing agreements for common products and clients. The idea is that private bankers and M&A advisers, for example, have an incentive to team up on pitches for new business, since both sides would get a cut of any fees.
Joint ventures between financial firms rarely work. One of the few successful examples was JPMorgan’s partnership with UK brokerage Cazenove. That, however, involved pooling the resources of two separate firms, and was effectively the first step in a takeover by the American bank.