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Urs Rohner, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Credit Suisse Group, certainly has only one wish: to leave his bank as soon as possible, take the substantial financial loot he has earned home, and save his face. – from the point of view of the shareholders – take an undeserved retirement.
What it lacked so far was a successor to the position that would also be accepted by its major major shareholders.
With Tidjane Thiam, whom he brought in from London as CEO, everything went wrong. He was howling.
Thank goodness there was Thomas Gottstein, who had long wanted to run the bank, who never dreamed he would still get to Thiam, who even cheered on Thiam in the last few photos, who gave himself a push and did his dream job as group. CEO accepted.
That was a good thing, because after many years the bank once again had its own credible face.
The new chairman of the board of directors of the second largest Swiss bank had to be a foreigner. The predominantly Anglo shareholders, mostly large fund companies, demand this.
Because London remains the financial center of Europe, which has been slowly disappearing since Britain left the EU, Urs Rohner’s successor should also be found there.
And there was a possibility.
The international scout in charge of the search, who knew the London scene as well as the Swiss, was tasked with hiring a rejuvenated management team for the renowned but stagnant Lloyds Bank.
That worked perfectly. In the end, the only question remained: What do we do with the bank’s CEO? It was Antonio Horta-Osorio, a Portuguese who had managed the bank reasonably for ten years.
Two days ago, the Financial Times, which is credible on these matters, wrote about him that after ten years he had failed to achieve “top-of-the-line growth”, which is exactly what the Credit Suisse Group urgently needs.
Horta is in many ways similar to Martin Blessing, who was brought to UBS by Axel Weber and who failed miserably as Director of Global Wealth Management. They are both nice, empowered people, they have their weaknesses, but no one would ever say that they performed a miracle, not even a small one.
The previously anonymous headhunter had to hit two birds at once: find a new CEO for his client, Lloyds Bank. He found it with Charlie Nunn of HBSC.
But then it was about giving Horta a good out of the City of London at the same time. What is fair.
Wasn’t a job in Zurich, Urs Rohner’s successor at Credit Suisse under discussion?
The City of London is a larger town where everyone in financial circles knows everyone. The dice were rolled.
Horta had no reason to refuse Zurich’s tempting offer. Damn, well paid, at least not worse than before. And a secure job in rich Switzerland for at least the next 6-8 years.
The Financial Times reported on the “facts.” It must have been so.
As usual, the big game was played in London. Who or what was left there was transferred to Switzerland. Anyway, your bankers are not considered very smart on the Thames.
Now begins a second highly paid probationary period for Horta at the top of Credit Suisse. In London, he was able to afford a two-month “burnout” with his former employer. He would hardly be forgiven for repeating the same thing in Zurich.
