Credit Suisse Group has announced a shake-up of its upper executive level following the consecutive disasters it absorbed from the collapse of the Archegos Capital Management hedge fund and the freezing of $10 billion in investment funds connected to Greensill Capital, a failed British-based supply chain finance firm.
A Change Of Players: The Swiss-headquartered lender said Brian Chin, CEO of its investment bank, will resign from the executive board on April 30 while Lara Warner, chief risk and compliance officer, is stepping down effective Tuesday. Both Chin and Warner are also leaving the bank.
Beginning May 1, Christian Meissner will replace Chin in the C-suite and on the executive board. Meissner has been Credit Suisse’s co-head of investment wealth management investment banking advisory and vice chairman of investment banking since October 2020 and was previously the head of global corporate and investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Warner is being replaced in her job and on the executive board with the interim appointment of Joachim Oechslin, who previously held both positions from 2014 to 2019 before becoming a senior adviser and chief of staff to the CEO of Credit Suisse Group.
Another interim appointment is Thomas Grotzer as global head of compliance. Grotzer was general counsel and a member of the executive board of Credit Suisse since 2016.
Financial Woes: Credit Suisse also announced investigations would be conducted into the Credit Suisse asset-management-managed supply chain finance funds and the Archegos collapse, which cost the company $4.7 billion. The investigations will be conducted by external parties supervised by a board-appointed special committee.
As a result of the losses, Credit Suisse announced it will reduce its dividend and suspend planned share buybacks.
“The significant loss in our prime services business relating to the failure of a U.S.-based hedge fund is unacceptable,” Thomas Gottstein, CEO of Credit Suisse Group, said in a statement.
“In combination with the recent issues around the supply chain finance funds, I recognize that these cases have caused significant concern amongst all our stakeholders. Together with the board of directors, we are fully committed to addressing these situations.
“Serious lessons will be learned,” Gottstein said. “Credit Suisse remains a formidable institution with a rich history.”
Late Monday, Bloomberg cited an anonymous source in reporting Credit Suisse Group sold roughly $2.3 billion in stocks tied to the Archegos debacle. The bank offered block trades tied to ViacomCBS, Vipshop Holdings, and Farfetch.
Credit Suisse is scheduled to release its first-quarter 2021 earnings report on April 22.
Credit Suisse’s U.S.-listed shares were down 0.3% premarket at $10.84.
This story originally appeared on Benzinga. © 2021 Benzinga.com.
Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.