Swiss Banker CEO Tidjane Thiam resigned on Thursday to clear the air after two consecutive spying scandals surfaced amidst rumors that allege a power struggle among the bank’s top officials.
Thiam, who had been leading Credit Suisse (CS), one of the largest Swiss investment banks since 2015, resigned in favor of CS veteran Thomas Gottstein. Gottstein got the unanimous support of the board of directors on Friday and is endowed with their full trust to take the reigns at least until his term ends in April 2021.
“After careful deliberations, the board has been unanimous in its actions, as well as in reaffirming its full support for the chairman to complete his term until April 2021,” Credit Suisse’s lead independent director Severin Schwan said in a press statement on Friday.
Thiam joined the ranks of Credit Suisse in 2015, together with his close associate and former Chief Operating Officer Pierre-Olivier Bouée. Bouée, however, had to resign after a spying scandal came to light last year that Bouée instigated into the former head of wealth management Iqbal Khan according to a BBC report.
Khan had just before defected to Credit Suisse’s greatest adversary UBS. Bouée later would say he needed to have Khan tailed for the benefit of the bank because he feared he could poach Credit Suisse employees or clients.
After Bouée’s resignation, another spying scandal, also instigated by Bouée, emerged. This time it was the former Human Resources Director, Peter Goerke that was the target. This, in turn, prompted an investigation by Swiss financial watchdog FINMA.
Thiam, who took office as CEO in 2015, meanwhile, denied any knowledge of the spying operations.
“I had no knowledge of the observation of two former colleagues. It undoubtedly disturbed Credit Suisse and caused anxiety and hurt. I regret that this happened and it should never have taken place,” Thiam said in his parting statement.
The board of directors also stated last December that no indications were found that Thiam had any prior knowledge of the espionage affairs until it broke in the news.
The bank’s chairman Urs Rohner said on Swiss radio that Thiam’s departure was to maintain the bank’s credibility. He denied rumors that Thiam’s resignation resulted from a power struggle between the two.
“At some point, we realized that we couldn’t get out of this situation unless we made a change, and Tidjane Thiam understood that too,” Rohner said, according to the BBC.
Under Thiam’s leadership, Credit Suisse moved its attention away from investment banking to wealth management and returned the bank to profit since 2018.
