Credit Suisse is pleased with effort to replace HB2

Credit Suisse, a major Triangle employer whose assessment of the state’s business climate could impact its ongoing reevaluation of its worldwide office sites, took an upbeat view of the efforts that ultimately led to the compromise bill that replaced the controversial House Bill 2.

“We are pleased with the progress being made on this issue and we are continuing to watch developments closely,” Credit Suisse spokeswoman Karina Byrne wrote in an email Thursday afternoon, before Gov. Roy Cooper announced he had signed the bill.

A Credit Suisse spokeswoman said earlier this month that the Swiss financial services company was “in the midst of a firm-wide global reevaluation of our real estate properties,” including the company’s RTP campus as well as offices in New York and Princeton, N.J. Credit Suisse has 1,700 employees in RTP.

Gov. Roy Cooper told CBS North Carolina earlier this month that a financial firm, which he didn’t identify, was interested in bringing 1,500 jobs with starting annual salaries of $100,000 to North Carolina, but that the company was concerned about the impact of House Bill 2.

Credit Suisse has declined to say whether it’s contemplating expanding in RTP by adding up to 1,500 jobs.

The compromise bill that was pushed through the General Assembly on Thursday repeals House Bill 2. But it has drawn criticism because it includes a nearly four-year moratorium that prevents cities and counties from adopting anti-discrimination protection for LGBT people. It also requires people in government facilities to use bathrooms that match the gender on their birth certificates.

This story was originally published March 30, 2017 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Credit Suisse is pleased with effort to replace HB2."