While former Credit Suisse CEO Oswald Gruebel accuses his predecessors of poor management, he sees the bank being out of the woods for the time being.
For former Credit Suisse CEO Oswald Gruebel, the is on safe grounds following the completion of its capital increase, as he said in an appearance on the «Bilanz Business Talk» (in German) broadcast Sunday. He also took it as a good sign that the Financial Market Authority (Finma) recently approved all of the bank's measures.
Still, he stressed how important recent money outflows at Credit Suisse underscore the importance of trust for banks. Modern, accelerated communication has complicated many things, he said. For all the justified criticism, he said, the bank must now be given the time it needs to fully recover.
Buying Shares Himself
As recently as October, Gruebel believed things could not get any worse at Credit Suisse, and that is why he bought shares in the bank himself, as he revealed on the program.
At the beginning of the year in an interview with Germany's «Boersen-Zeitung», Gruebel was also confident when he recommended buying Credit Suisse shares at a price above 8 Swiss francs.
In his view, the share price at that time reflected the capital losses of recent past years. Moreover, he said, the bank was in a turnaround situation if no more losses were added. It is clear now Gruebel's forecast proved too optimistic.
Excessive Bonuses
He was also critical of the bank's salary policy. Despite debacles with Greensill and Archegos, the bonus pool stood at two billion, and did not justify the results, he said.
In the past, the basis for bonuses was profit but degenerated because the «American system» become more prevalent.
