Credit Suisse's new chief executive Tidjane Thiam did not disappoint those expecting the bank to provide a big strategic shake-up alongside its quarterly results on Wednesday, as the Swiss group announced plans to slash assets at parts of its investment bank and split the division into two new units to separate sales and trading from other businesses.

The October 21 announcement revealed that little over a year after it promoted equities head Timothy O'Hara and Jim Amine, who runs the global investment banking department, to jointly run the overall investment bank alongside Gaël de Boissard, the duo will take over.