Era of Lucrative Debt Team Fades as Credit Suisse Sees Exits

Thirteen years after Credit Suisse Group AG crowned itself Wall Street’s new junk-bond king by buying Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette Inc., the last vestiges of its reign in the most lucrative credit business are being squeezed out by post-crisis banking regulations.

At least six senior members of the firm’s U.S. credit team have departed its New York office this year as top pay for high-yield debt traders and salespeople fell to about $3.5 million in 2012 from as much as $5 million three years earlier, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The bank has scrapped monthly commissions it had paid as part of efforts to retain a DLJ junk-bond team led by an associate of Michael Milken, who created the market in the 1980s, the people said.