Tidjane Thiam has announced that he will not leave Credit Suisse to run for president in his native Ivory Coast — an unusual move, particularly as bank bosses usually refuse to talk publicly about any potential career change.
His announcement was made in response to recent calls on Ivorian Facebook pages — such as “One million signatures for Tidjane Thiam 2020” and “TT2020” — for the Credit Suisse boss to run for head of state in the west African country.
The bank’s 56-year-old chief executive said he was responding to “speculation in the media” when he announced late on Thursday: “Having spent three years at the helm of Credit Suisse, my task is not yet completed and I have every intention of continuing with it.”
“I am both humbled and honoured by the encouragement and support I have been shown recently by many of my fellow Ivorians and more generally by a large number of Africans,” he said. “However, I have said repeatedly for a number of years that I am determined not to get involved in politics.”
Presidential elections are due to be held in Ivory Coast in October 2020 and the incumbent Alassane Ouattara has said he will not run again after serving two terms in office since 2010.
Mr Thiam was born into a prominent political family in Ivory Coast and holds both Ivorian and French passports. He was educated in France before joining the consultants McKinsey. But in 1994 he returned to Ivory Coast to serve as a government minister until a coup d’état five years later led to Mr Ouattara taking office and Mr Thiam returning to McKinsey in Paris.
He was appointed to run Credit Suisse in March 2015 after more than a decade as an insurance executive, initially at Aviva in Paris and then at Prudential in the UK, where he became chief executive in 2009.
Since taking over at the Swiss bank, Mr Thiam has tried to slim down its faltering investment bank and build up its wealth management operations. His restructuring seemed to be starting to pay off in the first half of this year when net profits rose almost 50 per cent.
However, Credit Suisse shares are down 40 per cent since Mr Thiam arrived, underperforming most rivals including two of the other three banks that appointed new CEOs in 2015: Barclays and Standard Chartered. The third, Deutsche Bank, recently parted company with its chief executive John Cryan.
“The strategy that we have designed for Credit Suisse and are executing with discipline is delivering good results,” said Mr Thiam. “I therefore intend to remain in post as CEO of Credit Suisse and to oversee the development of our activities following this period of deep restructuring.”
Citing his “many contributions” to Ivory Coast’s development, the Credit Suisse boss said: “I am a manager, and I believe that what I have done so far in my life and in my career as an African leading a major global company — and what I continue to do — is helpful to the cause of Africa and Africans.”
“As many Ivorians know, I contributed to the construction of roads, primary schools, high schools, hospitals, wells, and power plants throughout the Ivory Coast, as well as to the Third Bridge of Abidjan — one of the largest in Africa — a project which I initiated and developed over a period of several years.”
