Credit Suisse CEO Thomas Gottstein says he wants to be part of the solution at the troubled bank despite the Greensill and Archegos scandals happening on his watch.
The under-fire CEO of Credit Suisse, Thomas Gottstein, has told Swiss business magazine «Bilanz» (in German) he has felt a great deal of support in his conversations with outgoing Chairman Urs Rohner and his successor Antonio Horta-Osorio.
Gottstein’s stewardship of the bank has been sharply criticized, with calls in the press for his resignation after it lost billions because of the collapse of supply chain finance company Greensill and the Archegos hedge fund.
Part of Solution
«I’ve decided to be part of the solution. The last few months have probably been the most difficult in my 30-year career,» Gottstein told «Bilanz».
In the interview, Gottstein addressed the bank’s attitude to risk, which has been blamed for the Greensill and Archegos debacles and which he said had to change.
«The most important message is that every employee has to be a risk manager. Every member of Credit Suisse staff has to take decisions in such a way that not only are the client’s interests correctly taken into account but also those of the bank.»
Underlying Numbers
However, Gottstein added that the underlying numbers showed many things were going well at Credit Suisse.
«I’m very proud of a lot which has been done over the past 12 months,» he said, pointing to the adjusted pre-tax profits were the highest since the financial crisis.
Unsettled Investment Bankers
However, Chairman Horta-Osorio ruffled feathers in London recently when he described the investment bank as an «ancillary service» of the wealth management business, according to a Bloomberg report (behind paywall).
Horta-Osorio is currently carrying out a strategic review of the bank.
It is obvious that the role of the investment bank will be part of review after its prime brokerage lost over 5 billion francs ($5.4 billion) in the collapse of Archegos.
