Credit Suisse names Cameron Lester head of Internet Banking

Credit Suisse has just announced the appointment of Cameron Lester as head of its Internet Banking Division. Cameron Lester, an investment banker-venture capitalist, will now spearhead the Internet Banking group starting July in San Francisco, according to Reuters. 

In the late 1990s, Cameron Lester worked at the Credit Suisse as a software banker. He later left the firm and with former Credit Suisse bankers, co-founded the Azure Capital Partners, a venture capital firm.

Cameron Lester will be replacing Imran Khan who left the firm in December. Imran Khan is currently working for Snapchat as its chief strategy officer. Imran had also a big role in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's IPO.

Credit Suisse is ranked fourth in Internet IPO underwriting over the last 12 months, according to Bloomberg.

In a report by Wall Street Journal, David Wah, co-head of global tech, media and telecom banking at Credit Suisse, said Cameron Lester was a good choice to head the Internet banking division looking at his experience with both startups and also with earlier generation of big software companies.

David Wah said Internet users are growing exponentially especially via mobile devices. As a result, bankers need to scale their advice.  He further said it's important to hire someone who has experience outside of transaction-focused banking to advise CEOs of start-ups, which remains private.

"We wanted someone who has really been thinking about this from a different perspective," David Wah added.

Credit Suisse's success in recent years has come from its Internet banking business. The Internet has forever changed the way we lives from doing commerce, to entertainment, and more.

Cameron Lester returns to Credit Suisse to head the Internet banking division after recent IPO offerings of Alibaba, Box Inc and Zalando in the Silicon Valley.

Azure Capital Partners was an early investor in web-focused software firms such as VMWare. Currently, it is in social media startups such as Sprinklr and Yik Yak.