Credit Suisse chairman Horta-Osorio resigns over Covid breaches

Swiss bank appoints Axel Lehmann as chairman after Horta-Osorio quits within a year after taking charge

Credit Suisse will stick to its strategic overhaul despite the abrupt departure of its mastermind Antonio Horta-Osorio following an internal probe into his personal conduct, including breaches of Covid-19 rules, the embattled bank's new chairman said on Monday.

Horta-Osorio’s exit comes less than a year after he was hired to help the bank deal with the implosion of collapsed investment firm Archegos and the insolvency of British supply chain finance company Greenshill Capital, even as it was still reeling from the 2020 exit of CEO Tidjane Thiam over a spying scandal.

Combined these triggered multi-billion dollar losses and sackings at Switzerland's No. 2 bank, and Horta-Osorio unveiled a new strategy in November to rein in its investment bankers and curb a freewheeling culture.

“The strategy is not under discussion,” Axel Lehmann, a Credit Suisse board member brought in to replace Horta-Osorio, told Reuters in a telephone interview. The bank’s shares were down over 2 per cent in Monday’s trade.

Credit suisse said Antonio Horta-Osorio (left) resigned following an investigation commissioned by the board and Axel Lehmann became its chairman with immediate effect

The Portuguese banker's personal conduct has recently come under scrutiny, after he breached Covid-19 quarantine rules twice in 2021.

"I regret that a number of my personal actions have led to difficulties for the bank and compromised my ability to represent the bank internally and externally,” Horta-Osorio said in a statement issued by Credit Suisse on Monday. “I therefore believe that my resignation is in the interest of the bank and its stakeholders at this crucial time.”

Credit Suisse said he resigned following an investigation commissioned by the board and that Lehmann had become its chairman with immediate effect.

Lehmann, a Swiss citizen who spent over 10 years at rival UBS and nearly two decades at Zurich Insurance Group , said no sweeping changes were planned for Credit Suisse as it tries to steer its way back into calmer waters. He said customer business remained excellent despite the latest upheaval and no big management changes were in the works.