Credit Suisse expected to announce Koerner as CEO, latest change at helm – sources
By Oliver Hirt
(Reuters) -Credit score Suisse Group AG is anticipated to announce Ulrich Koerner as its new chief govt, the newest administration churn on the Swiss financial institution because it struggles to recuperate from a sequence of scandals, two sources conversant in the scenario mentioned on Tuesday.
Stress had been mounting on present CEO Thomas Gottstein for months over main scandals and losses racked up throughout his two-year tenure which have hammered shares and angered traders. In current months some traders had referred to as for changing Gottstein, however the financial institution resisted.
One other senior govt, Christian Meissner, head of the lender’s funding financial institution, can be planning to go away the group, the Monetary Instances reported.
One of many sources mentioned the financial institution was anticipated to announce the change in CEO on Wednesday together with its quarterly outcomes.
Credit score Suisse declined to remark. Meissner didn’t reply to requests for remark from Reuters.
When Gottstein took the helm in 2020, he promised a “clear slate” for the financial institution, which was recovering from an inner spying scandal that value his predecessor Tidjane Thiam his job.
Since Thiam left in February 2020, the inventory is down practically 60% and troubles on the financial institution have solely escalated. In 2021, the financial institution disclosed a $5.5 billion loss from the unraveling of U.S. funding agency Archegos and the collapse of $10 billion price of provide chain finance funds. The occasions prompted administration ousters, investigations, and a capital improve – adopted by additional losses and recent authorized circumstances.
Credit score Suisse introduced in Koerner in April 2021 to guide its newly separated asset administration division following the collapse of the $10 billion price of provide chain finance funds linked to bancrupt financier Greensill Capital.
Koerner returned to Credit score Suisse from arch-rival UBS, the place he most lately served as adviser to the CEO from 2019 to 2020. He ran UBS Asset Administration from 2014 to 2019. Koerner was beforehand a senior govt at Credit score Suisse Monetary Companies and ran the Swiss enterprise.
Koerner, who used to work for McKinsey, is taken into account a restructuring skilled in Switzerland.
Nonetheless, the appointment would comply with different main European banks the place variety on the prime has been missing. The 25 largest banks by belongings have seen 22 adjustments in chief govt and chair over the previous two years in keeping with a Reuters evaluate of senior business roles. Twenty-one of these 22 jobs went to males.
This spring, Credit score Suisse’s chairman Axel Lehmann reiterated his assist for Gottstein after Artisan Companions, the financial institution’s ninth-largest shareholder, had publicly referred to as for Gottstein to get replaced.
“I absolutely again him as a result of he’s good,” Lehmann mentioned in a CNBC interview on the World Financial Discussion board assembly in Davos. He dismissed as “rumors and speculations” discuss that Gottstein may very well be on his approach out.
The WSJ earlier reported that Gottstein might quickly get replaced, days after Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported the financial institution is contemplating additional value cuts.
(Reporting by Oliver Hirt in Zurich, Shivam Patel in Bengaluru and Elisa Martinuzzi in London; Further writing by Megan Davies; Modifying by Devika Syamnath and Richard Pullin)
