He has his own hashtag and it is celebrated far and wide in the financial media as the Jules Verne of the analyst community. In difficult times, Zoltan Pozsar is one of the few stars that the major bank Credit Suisse can boast.

If Zoltan Pozsar has achieved star status on the international financial scene, it is in large part thanks to the recent market turmoil caused by the Ukraine war.

The Hungarian-born investor, who at 44 already holds the rank of managing director and head of short-term interest rate strategy at Credit Suisse in New York, became involved in the issue on day two of the Russian invasion.

Broken Crystal Ball

At the time, he predicted the West's sanctions against Russia would jeopardize the smooth functioning of the money markets - a warning picked up by financial media including «Bloomberg,» the «Financial Times», and finews.com.

Despite that particular prophecy not coming to pass, it has done little, if anything, to damage the aura of the Credit Suisse strategist. On the contrary, his Twitter messages under the #Zoltan hashtag, have a large following and stimulate lively discussion - and ambivalence. Pozsar is given to grand gestures and sprawling texts. He is, however, by no means afraid to tackle unwieldy topics such as shadow banking or the financial system of the future.

Out on a Limb

Even his critics admit that the man can write. Because of these qualities, Pozsar has been called the Jules Verne of research, producing «financial fiction.» While the banker rejected this notion to the «Financial Times» (behind paywall), he does seem to be a bit flattered. Too much research is «so goddamn dry,» and «you have to tell a story,» he insists.

He explained his process to the FT as «When you stick your neck out with a view you don’t know if it’s going to happen. But you kind of feel it’s going to happen because you think logically it has to happen, and then you hopefully see it in the numbers. If you wait until the data shows it, it’s too late.»

So far, at least, the financial expert hasn't fallen from his lofty perch which is paying off for Credit Suisse. In the face of what is probably the worst crisis in the history of Switzerland's second-largest bank, it currently counts more bogeymen than stars, which is probably why the Hungarian is allowed to maintain such a public profile.

Profession under Pressure

His career path took Pozsar to Credit Suisse in 2015, following stints at the IMF and the Fed. Together with his supervisor, he was looking for ways at the bank to commercialize his knowledge of highly complex and less accessible subject areas, he told the Financial Times.

The endeavor has apparently succeeded, and he is now arguing that banks should give their investment analysts more freedom to explore topics and experiment. If he succeeds, it would certainly be a ray of hope for a profession that has come under heavy pressure, particularly in Europe, due to new financial guidelines.

Swiss banking has also seen a downsizing of research, and in this respect, financial analysts could use more superstars.