Credit Suisse's chairman remains embroiled in domestic headlines which make it obvious that he has ruffled feathers in Switzerland. A pattern is repeating itself, finews.com writes.
A new day, a new imbroglio involving António Horta-Osório, who last week apologized for breaking Swiss quarantine, only to be reported to have mixed business in Asia with an Indian Ocean stopover. On Friday, it emerged that a Credit Suisse stalwart disagrees with the Portuguese-British banker in «style and substance».
The dismantling of AHO, as he is referred to in Switzerland, is in full swing – to the detriment of Credit Suisse itself, as finews.asia wrote on Thursday. The episode is a déjà vu of the bank's former CEO Tidjane Thiam, who faced racism and xenophobia as well as a backlash from Zurich's establishment towards the end of his six-year tenure in Switzerland.
Undermined By Drip-Feed
Horta-Osório's role as a cleaner-upper is undermined by the daily media drip-feed, which often portrays him as tone-deaf to Swiss cultural mores. Both he and Thiam came to Zurich from the City of London: Thiam a French-Ivorian former insurance CEO, Horta-Osório the savior of Lloyds.
Though outsiders to the City, both remain closely linked – Horta-Osório was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in June and for a time Credit Suisse referred to him as «Sir» in official statements.
Welcomed Before Running Afoul
Both were also initially welcomed in Switzerland, before running afoul of unique, close-knit business culture. Horta-Osório's quarantine blunder just as Swiss officials imposed additional restrictions to battle Omicron is viewed – even by allies – as unforgivable.
A Swiss residency snafu doesn't help: «We don't tolerate sham residency,» Swiss tabloid «Blick» (in German) on Friday quoted the head of canton Schwyz's economics department in reference to which officials Horta-Osório went to over the broken quarantine.
High Finance Vs Paradeplatz
Thiam (pictured below) was lauded for quickly ushering in a radical, necessary restructuring after arriving in Zurich in 2015. He settled well in large part because he spoke German as well as his native French, and later saying he wanted to become Swiss.
He also increasingly cultivated a tight circle of trusted associates, and sometimes commanded fealty which is alien to Switzerland, finews.com reported. Thiam was eventually asked by Credit Suisse's board to resign over a tawdry corporate espionage scandal, which he did last February.
(Thiam marching in Sechselaeuten, a traditional Zurich holiday parade, in 2016, Image: Keystone)
The Swiss bank's ex-CEO as well as its current chairman walk a cultural tightrope between what is acceptable in a more anonymous center of high finance and what works in Switzerland, where big banks are everyday news – not just business page material.
Others such as UBS overseer Axel Weber or Zurich boss Mario Greco had less drama, thanks to «Helvetization» programs, for example, or a generally lower profile. Clearly, Horta-Osório is ruffling feathers – doing his job, in other words.
Coming Home With Cultural Savvy
The much-needed reform of Credit Suisse will have iced some bankers, who may be behind a not-so-whispered campaign against the new chairman. The counter-campaign against Horta-Osório might also come from outside of the bank, some speculation goes.
Swiss and U.K. or U.S. factions aside, there is also a growing crop of bankers who are either more familiar with European culture or even homecomers. These include Irish Wall Streeter Colm Kelleher, who is due to take over from Weber at UBS in April; Sarah Youngwood, a French-American who is UBS' next finance chief; and Austrian Christian Meissner, who recently took over Credit Suisse's investment bank.
