Calls for more accountability of banking executives are growing after Credit Suisse's twin disasters – including from within the Swiss financial industry itself.
Ex-Credit Suisse Chairman Urs Rohner is morphing into a poster boy for ineptitude in finance, coupled with greed: after leaving the Swiss bank riddled with problems, he is drawing criticism from the otherwise discreet and reserved Swiss banker fraternity.
«It is not on that Urs Rohner gets more than 40 million Swiss francs and leaves Credit Suisse in such a desolate state, without any consequences for him personally,» Gutzwiller partner Christoph Gloor told «Tages-Anzeiger» (behind paywall, in German). The sum refers to pay Rohner accumulated in ten years overseeing the Swiss giant.
Call For Political Action
Rohner handed over to António Horta Osório more than three weeks ago, shortly after Credit Suisse was forced to ask shareholders for $1.9 billion to patch up its losses on Archegos. The bank had already been dealing with a $10.1 billion Greensill fund implosion when the hedge fund troubles hit.
«There is an urgent need to move to strengthen the personal liability of banking executives,» Gloor told the Swiss outlet, referring to political action. Gloor is a former partner of Basel-based private bank La Roche which sold itself in 2015 to Notenstein, then to Vontobel in 2018 before joining Gutzwiller in 2019.
Wider Political Consensus
Crucially, the issue has grown beyond the left-wing circles that traditionally want to shackle banks, and spilled over into the business-friendly FDP party, «Tages-Anzeiger» reported.
«It's not a bad idea to evaluate the instruments that our regulators have from time to time,» a prominent unnamed FDP politician told the daily. This would indicate more power for Finma, Switzerland's financial regulator which is itself in the midst of a key handover.
Regulator Receptive
Finma, which doesn't have the regulatory might that Gloor is referring to, said it would welcome a political effort to get it. «We welcome any discussion on how to improve corporate governance in relation to the personal responsibility of executives,» the Bern-based financial regulator told the Swiss daily.
The issue is likely moot for Rohner, both because he severed all ties with Credit Suisse when he left in April and because legislating in Switzerland's consensus-based political model takes years. The issue has more urgency at Credit Suisse, now in the hot-seat with its regulator as well as politicians.
