3. No Longer the Master of Its Story
Negative headlines tarnish the story of Credit Suisse, despite the successful turnaround engineered by Thiam. The picture is of a bank, which no longer is master of the story and tumbles from one scandal to the next.
In giving Bouée the blame for the second spy case, Credit Suisse has made him into yet another insider with too much knowledge. An outside expert with a mandate from Finma will start investigating the «Goerke» case in 2020, with the potential for more embarrassment in store.
4. Morale at a Low
«We are aware that the observations of Iqbal Khan and Peter Goerke have damaged the reputation of our bank,» Chairman Rohner said on Monday. It falls to the Swiss bank's more than 45,000 members of staff to shoulder most of the damage.
As several of them report, most client conversations start with a run-down of «spygate» – though it isn't clear yet what fallout on business, if any, the scandal will have. The fact that NZZ broke the second case of espionage at Credit Suisse is highly noteworthy: the traditionally very bank-friendly newspaper carries more weight as an opinion-leader than other Swiss dailies.
5. Thrown Under the Bus?
Ex-Credit Suisse operating chief Pierre-Olivier Bouée and security overseer Remo Boccali were found to blame in the hasty Homburger probe. The duo represents the biggest potential threat to Thiam. Bouée and Thiam go back nearly 20 years to McKinsey times, but that ended when Credit Suisse revoked the initial terms of Bouée’s departure on Monday.
The 48-year-old is leaving more than $4 million of vested instruments on the table. Depending on Finma’s findings, Bouée will find it difficult to clinch another finance industry job. Boccali, an 18-year veteran of Credit Suisse, will also feel hard done by. Both men undoubtedly know more than they have thus far revealed publicly.
