A prominent Swiss investment adviser has said that Credit Suisse is “in crisis” and called for its chairman Urs Rohner to take responsibility for the management dispute engulfing the bank and step down immediately.
The intervention by Ethos Foundation, which controls over 3 per cent of Credit Suisse shares and advises institutional investors on corporate governance, comes as the lender’s board was meeting on Thursday to discuss chief executive Tidjane Thiam’s position.
Ethos chief executive Vincent Kaufmann told the FT: “We don’t see how [Mr Rohner] is dealing with it. The bank is in crisis. There is no communication, no information.”
Credit Suisse’s 60-year old chairman has fallen out dramatically with Mr Thiam in the wake of a corporate espionage scandal last year. It emerged that the bank hired a corporate espionage company to follow Iqbal Khan, its former wealth management head who defected to rival UBS.
Mr Thiam was caught at the centre of the affair thanks to his bitter relationship with Mr Khan, his one-time heir apparent. The lurid details of Mr Khan and Mr Thiam’s fallout transfixed Switzerland’s usually staid financial community.
Mr Kaufmann said it is “urgent” to have new leadership at the Credit Suisse board level: “The board is responsible to supervise management. We need someone to challenge the whole governance framework of the bank.”
Ethos said that Mr Rohner should step down in time for Credit Suisse’s board to propose a replacement ahead of its annual shareholder meeting in April. Mr Kaufmann added: “I don’t think he has been doing many things correctly. He is always reactive in all situations and this has contributed to the full mistrust of shareholders.”
He added: “For some years we believe Mr Rohner has been taking a lot of decisions which have been detrimental to the bank.” Mr Rohner did not respond to a request for comment.
Ahead of Thursday’s board meeting three top Credit Suisse shareholders — including its largest, Harris Associates — threw their weight behind Mr Thiam.
