With a hard capital ration of 12.9 percent, Credit Suisse still lags UBS' 13.1 percent cushion. However, Credit Suisse is making quicker work of unwinding its «bad bank» assets – the toxic paper it holds in a resolution unit – than UBS. The two almost never compare themselves directly – at least publicly – but Credit Suisse allowed itself a rare dig at UBS in its results slides (see below). Three guesses as to who the «Swiss peer» mentioned is (though UBS has disposed of more assets in absolute terms). CSUBS Grafik 500

6. Different Altitude

Because UBS under Ermotti started focusing on wealth management far earlier, the larger bank has already reached its desired cruising altitude. Credit Suisse has only just started, relatively speaking, and arguably has far more to gain with the world's wealthy.

The bottom line is that Thiam still has more potential to delight investors than Ermotti, who has voiced frustration at what he obviously views as the financial market's failure to recognize his restructuring efforts. Even a 2 billion franc share buyback which begins next month – one of the last tricks in Ermotti's arsenal – couldn't ignite UBS stock.