The Swiss bank's leader tries to keep internal morale up while asking for a great deal of understanding of the tricky situation it is in.
At first, Credit Suisse did not want to disclose anything about its strategic restructuring plans ahead of the third-quarter results at the end of October. The media relations office simply batted back questions about the future of the investment bank and the group by saying it did not comment on rumors or speculation.
But then events started to overtake them. The Anglo-Saxon media started to cobble together regular headlines from anonymous sources, usually citing «people familiar with the matter» or something similar, as finews.com has indicated. There was talk about reviving the First Boston name, and possibly establishing a «bad bank» – even exiting the US market wholesale. Although nothing was confirmed, that did not prevent Credit Suisse's share price from coming under massive pressure, so much so that it lost 20 percent in the space of a week.
Brain Drain
It was at that point that Credit Suisse felt compelled to intervene and reject the rumor about a possible exit from the US market. At the same time, it also maintained it was not experiencing any kind of brain drain, or the resignation of numerous top executives, something finews.com had also reported on.
But that was ostensibly not enough to quieten things down, particularly the speculation of an urgently needed capital increase, something that put the share price under even further pressure. At times, it sank to a new record low of 3.67 francs a share. Credit Suisse had to intervene again, dispelling speculation it had any plans to issue new shares, as it did in the Swiss weekend newspaper «NZZ am Sonntag» (paywall, German only).
More Noise
Then on Friday evening, an internal memo by CEO Ulrich Koerner was cited in a number of media, asking employees to be patient while calling for more optimism. A Credit Suisse spokesperson subsequently confirmed the content of the memo.
There will undoubtedly be more noise in the media and the markets until the end of the month, Koerner wrote and he asked his employees to be as disciplined while remaining as close as possible to clients and colleagues.
Not Easy
He understood that it was «not easy» to remain concentrated on work given the numerous stories out there in the media, particularly the more speculative ones. But he also asked employees not to confuse daily share price developments with the bank's capital strength and ample liquidity.
In the memo, he also stated he was conscious of the uncertainty and speculation but asked employees to understand that he was not in a position to provide any further details about further restructuring plans before the 27th of October.
Like a Phoenix
He mentioned a clear intent to continue to communicate with internal staff on a regular basis and keep them updated and ended the memo by mentioning a wealth management event for ultra-high net worth clients that went by the motto «Rising like a Phoenix». He said it was a good metaphor for what they were trying to achieve.
