[Photo:  by Matthias Zepper / Wikimedia Commons]

Credit Suisse has moved more than 1 million customers into a new Swiss bank which goes live on Sunday. The creation of the new subsidiary - Credit Suisse (Schweiz) AG - that caters for Swiss retail, corporate, private and investment banking clients, is part of a broader shake-up of Credit Suisse under CEO Tidjane Thiam to focus more on wealth management and less on volatile investment banking.

Credit Suisse (Schweiz) AG has been created mainly from the group's Swiss universal banking business, one of regional divisions set up in Thiam's restructure alongside Asia Pacific and International Wealth Management. Considered one of the group's crown jewels for its profitability, its executives hope the new bank could command a valuation of around 20 billion Swiss francs ($19.8 billion). Credit Suisse Group has a market capitalization of about 30 billion francs.

The plan is for the IPO to raise 2-4 billion francs by selling 20-30% of Credit Suisse (Schweiz) AG, which is run by Credit Suisse veteran Thomas Gottstein. Credit Suisse has said market conditions will decide the timing of the IPO but it is currently penciled in for the second half of 2017.

GAM fund manager and Credit Suisse investor Daniel Haeuselmann believes the need for cash is a key reason for the listing, saying, "I think it's more a way to raise capital without significantly diluting shareholders' investments."

The creation of Credit Suisse (Schweiz) AG is also part of Swiss efforts to safeguard the country's economy from another banking crisis by getting major banks to ring-fence parts of their business.