Few wealth managers are raising their head above the parapet and proclaiming wholesale expansion plans in the current economic and financial turmoil. The one exception looks to be Credit Suisse.

Walter Berchtold, the bank's head of its wealth unit, is leading this charge for the Swiss bank, saying his unit wants to recruit 1,000-plus private bankers globally during the next few years to add to the already 3,370 relationship managers employed by Credit Suisse.