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Charm Offensive

Credit Suisse has been on red-alert since Khan left, with Thiam leading charm offensive on bankers and executives the C-suite identifies as a so-called flight risk. Their phone calls and emails are monitored – fully legally. Once such «risk» is Bruno Daher, Credit Suisse's wealth head in the Middle East, or Emma Crystal, who runs eastern and northern Europe. Credit Suisse didn't comment.

Khan's inner circle at the bank was quite extensive: the 43-year-old ex-consultant surrounded himself with a coterie of top-performing private bankers. He also maintained close ties to outside consultants. 

Safeguarding Interests

Move Wealth was one: founded in 2013 by ex-Credit Suisse bankers Mohammed Alaoui and Mika Kastenholz, the Baar, Switzerland-based firm delivered building blocks for Khan's successional wealth management strategy. The Swiss bank will be fearful of losing the relationship with Khan's defection to UBS. 

Credit Suisse has good reason to safeguard its business interests as Khan departs – but these are usually secured through intricate leaving contracts, and not bumbling detectives.  

Rules vs Shades of Gray

Exit contracts typically ban leavers from contacting potential clients or staff, but there are shades of gray – particularly in the case of a top executive with blurred lines between professional and personal.

Credit Suisse will have trouble keeping Khan, as a private citizen, from meeting with friends – even if they are Credit Suisse bankers. By contrast, Khan would be reckless to violate any part of his Credit Suisse exit pact (it would also imperil his standing at UBS, as Marco Illy would be happy to tell him).

Crossing the Rubicon

Stringently-enforced gardening leaves are nothing new, but the specter of private security staff represents a new chapter in the increasingly bitter feud between Switzerland's two largest banks. Credit Suisse is crossing the Rubicon with questionable surveillance methods, revealing a management-condoned paranoia.

The Swiss bank's current management stands out for an unshakable belief in its own infallibility and refusal to acknowledge criticism. Detractors and breakaways are shut down, and absolute fealty to management is a prerequisite for advancement at Credit Suisse. 

Whoever received orders to shadow Khan – or other bankers and executives –  shouldn't have followed them.