2022 should be a “transition year”.
(Photo: Bloomberg)
Zurich Persistent problems in the operational business have forced Credit Suisse boss Thomas Gottstein to restructure the board: CFO David Mathers, chief lawyer Romero Cerutti and Asia boss Helman Sitohang have to give up their positions. Credit Suisse confirmed this on Wednesday. The “NZZ am Sonntag” and “Bloomberg” had previously reported on the restructuring of the board.
A successor for Cerutti has already been determined: As the bank further announced, Markus Diethelm will take over the post of chief legal officer. The manager headed the legal department of competitor UBS until November 2021. Edwin Low, who is currently the regional co-head of the investment bank, is being discussed as the successor to Asia boss Sitohang. It’s still unclear who will replace Mathers.
With the management restructuring, CEO Gottstein is reacting to renewed special charges in the billions. Last week, in a profit warning, the bank had to concede increased provisions for legal cases and write-downs on loans to Russia and investments amounting to CHF 1.2 billion.
CEO Gottstein had already dampened expectations at the beginning of the year and described 2022 as a “year of transition”. From 2023, his strategy with a focus on wealth management should bear fruit. The newly formed management team should help with this. Apart from Gottstein himself and the head of the Swiss universal bank, André Helfenstein, none of the current board members was in his post before the collapse of the Greensill funds.
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The list of tasks is long: in asset management, the bank wants to hire hundreds of new customer advisors and raise a total of CHF 200 billion in new money. In addition, the bank faces years of legal battles with customers who have lost money in the supply chain funds operated with Greensill.
More: Second profit warning in three months: Credit Suisse starts with a quarterly loss in 2022.