At a time when Credit Suisse is trying to get back on its feet, the bank is taking a beating left, right and center. The biggest blows are aimed at the bank’s top row.
The media onslaught has been relentless against the leadership of Switzerland’s second-largest bank with Chair António Horta-Osório (pictured below) coming under fire again this week for using a corporate jet to fly to the Maldives to meet his wife on holiday recently, as «Inside Paradeplatz» (in German) reported.
The timing of the report couldn’t be more unfavorable. The bank is in pains to put itself back together after a series of crippling events and more than ever in need of strong leadership.
People with knowledge of the matter gave finews.com a different narrative. They say the chair flew out with a group of Credit Suisse executives to a business meeting in Asia. On his return, he descended the plane in the Maldives to join his wife. Even if the chair acted within the rules, the behavior is clumsy for a man who has come in to act as a moral guidepost.
Another Backlash
Without trivializing Horta-Osório’s blunder, what stands out is the timing of the media report: just days after taking a hit for breaking Swiss quarantine rules, another lapse in judgment comes to the forefront.
As an observer, it looks like a backlash against the chair’s clean-up. It is unclear from where the campaign is being orchestrated.
Horta-Osório’s impeccable image reigning over the bank from above in grand seigneur fashion is certainly tainted after calls were voiced in the Swiss press for him to stand down last week.
Shark Tank
It looks increasingly as though he has been dragged down into the shark tank where he is left to fend for himself against a campaign of people in possession of damning information, waiting to strike out at him and make use of it.
This comes just three months after chief executive Thomas Gottstein (pictured above) was attacked by the bank’s inner circles who leaked comments to the «Financial Times». Similarly, the comments aimed to shake the executive at his core, raising questions about his authority and ability to guide the bank independently.
The bank’s current vulnerability is heightened by its nascent structure with key appointments still outstanding.
Finma Down Its Neck
Yet what lies ahead makes the attacks all the more unsettling for Credit Suisse.
The bank has the financial regulator breathing down its neck in addition to its enforcement action against three bankers and shareholders are awaiting findings regarding the bank’s risk management and cultural shortcomings drawn from the Greensill investigation.
