After his abrupt departure from the Executive Board of Credit Suisse last October, the former Switzerland regional CEO and joint head of Private Banking is back in action.
It was easily the most surprising personnel move of 2015: Hans-Ulrich Meister (finews.ch story in German), former CEO of Credit Suisse Switzerland and head of the bank’s Wealth Management Division, had to step down last October.
Meister fell victim to the strategy changes of new Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam. In Meister’s place, the new CEO preferred former investment banker Thomas Gottstein – a manager Meister himself installed in the business with wealthy private clients to replace Rolf Boegli in November 2013. In the new order, Iqbal Khan, formerly Meister’s finance chief, has taken over at the helm of international wealth management.
Proposed as Chairman of the Board
Now the 57-year-old has found a new home in the Swiss construction firm Implenia. Implenia’s board of directors will ask its shareholders at the company’s AGM on March 22 to elect Hans-Ulrich Meister as the new chairman of the board, Implenia said Monday in a statement.
Commenting on its new choice of chairman, Implenia said that Meister has extensive financial expertise, thanks to his many years working at the top of the two major Swiss banks, UBS and Credit Suisse.
Old Workmates
Meister will meet an old workmate at his new employer: Implenia CEO Anton Affentranger worked for many years at the Schweizerische Bankgesellschaft (later UBS) in corporate banking, before leaving the bank in the process of the merger of 1998.
