The Swiss bank's chairman and CEO are reportedly at odds, but future strategy hinges on a shift in power dynamics elsewhere.
Is Chairman António Horta Osório briefing against CEO Thomas Gottstein and casting doubt on his remaining in the top Credit Suisse job? There may differences between chairman and CEO, but Horta Osório's battle is in the boardroom, not with management.
finews.asia gathers from bank insiders that any personnel changes as a result of Archegos and Greensill have largely been made already. The 57-year-old Portuguese-British banker needs to convince his 11 fellow directors that Credit Suisse may need more than cosmetic changes of strategy.
Decisive Election
Horta Osório obviously takes sees himself as an active chairman and crisis-fighter: the hires from Goldman Sachs of Joanne Hannaford and David Wildermuth for operations and risk, respectively, as well as Rafael Lopez Lorenzo for compliance, were primarily ones of urgency in the frantic first four months.
The chairman has reportedly enlisted McKinsey to review Credit Suisse's strategy by year-end. He is taking a decisive step towards that in two weeks, when he convenes a shareholder meeting to electAxel Lehmann and Juan Colombas, both risk experts, to the Swiss bank's board
Recent Strategy Support
The addition of Lehmann – a UBS veteran – and Columbas, a Lloyds associate, can be interpreted as reinforcing the board's financial and risk management expertise, or as a tactical maneuver by Horta Osório: he is shifting the power dynamic on the 11-person board in his favor.
What's overlooked in the debate over Gottstein's survival is that Credit Suisse's board just backed its current strategy last year: the bank just backed its strategy last year as «a leading wealth manager with strong global investment banking capabilities.»
«Big Bang» Review?
Observers would like to see Credit Suisse sell the family silver, like its asset management or even parts of its private bank, but «it isn't certain to be a 'big bang,'» a person familiar with the review said.
Horta Osório would need not only his board (soon to be 14 people) behind him, but also notable shareholders in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Norway, and the U.S. – all of whom have backed the universal banking strategy thus far.
Opposition Is Certain
The power dynamic on Credit Suisse's board has already changed with the exit of long-standing Chairman Urs Rohner as well as that of Andreas Gottschling in April, and the election of Blythe Masters and Clare Brady. However, the majority – including career bankers like Michael Klein, Shan Li, and Credit Suisse veteranKai Nargolwala – gave the current strategy their blessing.
finews.asia couldn't ascertain whether Greensill and Archegos had led to strategy doubts at board-level, but should Horta Osório plan a strategy reversal, he can count on opposition from his fellow directors. Lehmann and Colombas represent meaningful reinforcement the chairman will need in the weeks following the election when Credit Suisse's strategy takes shape.
